2 killed as Russian missiles cross into Poland

Two people died in an explosion in Przewodow, a village in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, firefighters said on Tuesday.

The Associated Press cited a senior US intelligence official as saying the blast was due to Russian missiles crossing into Poland.

"Firefighters are on the spot, it's not clear what has happened," said Lukasz Kucy, officer on duty at a nearby firefighters' post.

Polish Radio ZET reported earlier that two stray missiles hit Przewodow on Tuesday, killing two people, without giving any more details.

Russia was pounding cities across Ukraine with missiles on Tuesday, in attacks that Kyiv said were the heaviest wave of missile strikes in nearly nine months of war. Some hit Lviv, which is less than 80 kms (49.7 miles) from the border with Poland.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has called an urgent meeting of a government committee for national security and defence affairs, government spokesman Piotr Muller said on Twitter.

A government security spokesman and a representative of the prime minister's office declined to comment further.

Muller told reporters later on Tuesday that the committee was convened due to the "crisis situation", adding that relevant information will be presented to the public later. He called on media not to publish "unverified information" in the meantime.

Russia meanwhile denied reports that its missiles had struck Polish territory.

"Statements by Polish media and officials about 'Russian' missiles allegedly falling in the area of the settlement of Przewodow are a deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation," read a Russian defence ministry statement on Tuesday.

"No strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border were made by Russian means of destruction.

"The wreckage published by Polish media in hot pursuit from the scene in the settlement of Przewodow has nothing to do with Russian weapons."