Alleged Russian missile strikes alarm Poland: Update

Updates with details throughout

Reports of possible Russian missile strikes on a Polish town near the border with Ukraine have prompted Warsaw to consider calling for consultations with NATO, while the White House said it was looking to corroborate the information.

An emergency meeting of Poland's defense and national security officials decided to place some military units on high alert and, depending on the outcome of investigation, launch formal consultations with other NATO members, government spokesman Piotr Muller told reporters following the meeting. Poland's prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki convened the meeting after local media reports claiming that the latest salvo of Russian missiles targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure resulted in a strike near the Polish border town of Przewodow.

Officials in Poland, NATO and the US have urged against jumping to conclusions, after warning for months about reprisals if the Russian invasion of Ukraine spills over into neighboring NATO member states. The Polish government did not confirm whether the alleged strike came from Russia.

The Russian defense ministry claimed the reports were a "provocation" and that the Russian missile strikes did not hit any targets near the Polish-Ukrainian border.

The Pentagon said it was aware of the reports and was waiting to corroborate them. "We're working with the Polish government and our allies and partners to gather more information and assess exactly what will happen," the State Department said. "We cannot confirm the reports or any of the details at this time. We will determine what happened and what the appropriate next steps would be," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said following a conversation with his Polish counterpart, Jacek Siewiera.

NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg expressed condolences "on the loss of life" as a result of "explosion in Poland."

Ukraine's power grid, which has already taken severe hits in the past month, appears to have taken additional damage from the latest attacks, with Kyiv and large urban centers experiencing blackouts. The latest salvo follows the withdrawal last week of Russian troops from the city of Kherson, which Russia claims to have annexed in September.

Deliveries of Russian crude through the Druzhba pipeline's southern section to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic were suspended today because of a Russian military strike on a power transformer in Ukraine that supplies a Druzhba pumping station.

By Haik Gugarats and Ruxandra Iordache