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The U.S. and its Western allies clashed with Russia at the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday over responsibility for a deadly missile strike in Poland near the Ukrainian border, an event the U.N. political chief called “a frightening reminder of the absolute need to prevent any further escalation” of the nine-month war in Ukraine.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council: “This tragedy would never have happened but for Russia’s needless invasion of Ukraine and its recent missile assaults against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure.” Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia countered, accusing Ukraine and Poland of trying “to provoke a direct clash between Russia and NATO.”
The U.S. and Albania had called for a council update on the situation in Ukraine last week, and the meeting was dominated by Tuesday’s missile strike in Poland that killed two farm workers.
Nebenzia pointed to statements by Ukraine’s president and Polish officials initially indicating Russia was responsible. NATO’s chief and Poland’s president said Wednesday there is no indication it was a deliberate attack, and was likely a Soviet-era projectile launched by Ukraine as it was fending off Russian missiles and drones that savaged its power grid and hit residential buildings.
U.N. Undersecretary-General for political affairs Rosemary DiCarlo told the council that it was Russia’s “most intense bombardments” since its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, and the impact “can only worsen during the coming winter months.
