November 16, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Russia's delegation won't attend the fall session of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is set to take place next week in Warsaw, because Poland has rejected the delegation members' visas, a senior Russian official said Wednesday. 

Admission of the Russian delegation to the OSCE session "would violate the principle of solidarity with Ukraine," the head of Poland’s delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Barbara Bartus, said in response to the request for visas, according to Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy chair of the Russian Federation Council Committee on International Affairs. 

"Unfortunately, we received an outrageous response from the head of the Polish delegation to the OSCE parliamentary assembly, Ms. Bartus, who literally said that she does not see any possibility of Russian and Belarusian representatives participating in the autumn session of the OSCE PA in Warsaw," Dzhabarov said during a parliament session. 

"We expect that a similar problem with restricting the access of the members of our delegation to the assembly’s events may be repeated in February when the winter session is planned in Vienna and also next July with regards to the annual session in Canada," Dzhabarov said.

Residents and officials in the part of Kherson region still occupied by Russian forces are being urged to leave for Russia.

The Military and Civil Administration in Russian-occupied Oleshky, which lies on the east side of the Dnipro river, said on Telegram that it "strongly recommends that the residents of the district leave for safe regions of the Russian Federation."

Employees of the Russian-installed administration of Nova Kakhovka, a city in Kherson, have already relocated to safe places, according to the city administration Tuesday.

As a result of damage to fiber-optic lines in the city, there is no internet or mobile network.

According to the statement, "this does not mean that Nova Kakhovka, Tavriysk and all other settlements were abandoned." Crews of communal enterprises and services work in standby mode and ensure the functioning of energy and water supply systems in the city.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the UK would not rush to a judgment about the origin of a missile which landed in a Polish village Tuesday, killing two people. 

“We are not going to rush to judgment. Our response will always be led by the facts,” Cleverly said Wednesday in a speech to the British Parliament, adding the investigation into the incident would be led by Poland. 

Cleverly’s warning comes after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a Brussels news conference that “preliminary analysis suggests that the incident was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile fired to defend Ukrainian territory against Russian cruise missile attacks.” 

"But let me be clear, this is not Ukraine's fault," Stoltenberg said, adding, "Russia bears ultimate responsibility, as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine."

The foreign secretary condemned Putin’s “brutal air campaign” on Ukraine on Tuesday, when waves of missiles hit cities across the country. 

Cleverly added the strikes were “Putin’s revenge for Ukraine’s successes on the battlefield, where Russian forces have been expelled from thousands of square miles of territory and now he is trying to terrorize the people of Ukraine and break their will by leaving them shivering in cold and darkness.” 

UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace also said Wednesday that he cannot speculate on the missile incident.

Asked what conversations he has had with NATO counterparts, Wallace said that he was in touch with his Polish counterpart on Tuesday, “offering my support.” 

His Polish counterpart “replied that they were obviously waiting for intelligence and indeed details to emerge,” Wallace said.

The Ukrainian military told US and allies that it attempted to intercept a Russian missile during the timeframe and near that location of the Poland missile strike, a US official told CNN.

It’s not clear this air defense missile is the same missile that struck Poland, but this information has informed an ongoing US assessment of the strike. 

A Pentagon spokesperson referred CNN to comments by US President Joe Biden last night: “It’s unlikely, in the minds of the trajectory, that it was fired from Russia. But we’ll see. We’ll see.” 

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that the explosion in Poland yesterday near the border with Ukraine was likely caused by a Russian missile being shot down "without any intention on either side."

"Materials collected by our services and provided by our allies most probably indicate that the explosion in Przewodów, in eastern Poland, was caused by the shooting down and destruction of a Russian missile," he said.

Morawiecki tweeted that "there are many indications that one of these missiles fell on Polish territory without any intention on either side."

Earlier Wednesday, Polish President Andrzej Duda said his government doesn’t have any evidence to suggest that the missile that landed in Poland on Tuesday was fired by Russia.  

“Probably it was shot by the Ukrainian Air Defense, and unfortunately, it fell onto Polish territory,” he said.

He reiterated that nothing shows that it was an “intentional attack” against Poland. 

Poland's president and the head of NATO have today both said that it's likely that the missile strike that killed two people in a Polish border village Tuesday was accidentally caused by Ukrainian air defenses, with no sign that it was a intentional attack on Poland.

Yet this is the first time a NATO country has been directly hit since the conflict began in February. Alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said that: "Russia bears ultimate responsibility, as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine." 

Meanwhile, residents across Ukraine face emergency power cuts following Russia's barrage of strikes targeting energy infrastructure on Tuesday.

Here are the latest developments:

The US will “continue to work closely” with Poland and other allies to “gather more information” about the deadly explosion that occurred in Poland yesterday, killing two people, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said during opening remarks ahead of the seventh meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group Wednesday.

The Ukraine Defense Contact Group is designed to coordinate support for Ukraine from foreign allies around the world. This is the group’s seventh meeting. Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley are hosting this meeting virtually from the Pentagon.

Austin highlighted Russia's strikes across Ukraine earlier on Tuesday before reports of a strike in Poland emerged.

Russia is putting “civilians and civilian infrastructure in its gun sights,” Austin said. He reaffirmed that Russia’s targeting of civilians and their continued missile strikes “only deepen the resolve of the contact group,” and “only intensify Ukraine’s determination,” in his opening remarks.

“The Kremlin may hope that more bombardment will break the resolve of the Ukrainian people, but ordinary Ukrainian citizens have responded with the magnificent defiance that the world now knows so well,” Austin added.

Russia’s ability to spy in Europe has been dealt the “most significant strategic blow” in recent history after coordinated expulsions of diplomats since the invasion of Ukraine, with 100 diplomatic visa requests refused in the UK alone in recent years, according to the head of the UK’s security services, MI5.

Ken McCallum, the director general of MI5, said in an annual speech outlining threats to the United Kingdom that this year 600 Russians officials had been expelled from Europe, 400 of whom his agency judged to be spies.

In comments after the speech, McCallum called the expulsions “a very, very large dent in the Russians call about positioning across Europe,” adding data about agents was shared between European allies so that “it’s not easy for the Russians to cross post” one spy “expelled from country A to Country D.”

He added: “I hope what will continue to be true is that a very large volume of trained, experienced Russian intelligence talent, if I can use that term, will be of far less utility and most other parts of the world for many years to come.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed one of the alliance's top priorities is to provide more air defense systems to Kyiv, after Russia launched its biggest wave of missile attacks on Ukrainian cities in more than a month on Tuesday.

"Our main priority now or one of the top priorities now is to provide more air defense systems for Ukraine," Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg added he has spoken with Polish President Andrzej Duda and US President Joe Biden, after a missile landed in eastern Poland on Tuesday and killed two people near the border with Ukraine. 

The NATO chief said in the same news conference that preliminary analysis suggests the Poland missile incident was "likely" caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile, adding: "This is not Ukraine's fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility, as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine." 

The explosion marked the first time a NATO country has been directly hit during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with global leaders working to allay fears of a potential escalation in the conflict as a result of the strike.

"We agreed that we need to stay vigilant, calm and closely coordinated. We will continue to consult and monitor the situation very closely," Stoltenberg said.

"NATO stands united, and we will always do what is necessary to protect and defend all allies."