WARSAW

Poland’s president reiterated on Friday that the incident of a missile that killed two Poles this week near the border with Ukraine was likely an accident and the missile was probably not Russian, Polish Radio reported.

“We must be prepared that various events resulting from the war taking place abroad may be repeated,” Adndrzej Duda said in an interview in Rzeszow, southwestern Poland on Friday.

“We’re doing everything to prevent this from happening, but it was practically impossible to prevent this misfortune,” he added.

Duda said he had spoken to experts and military officials who said that no anti-missile system in such a situation would have been able to intercept the missile.

The president said on Wednesday, after a meeting at the National Security Bureau, that there was no indication that the event in Przewodow was an intentional attack on Poland and there is no evidence that the missile was launched by Russia. An investigation is ongoing, with Ukrainian investigators likely to be involved, Duda said.

Initial reports have said the debris is likely from a Ukrainian anti-missile system that was meant to stop a Russian airstrike.

Duda also said it is likely that a new wave of refugees will come into Poland and that preparations are underway.

"At a time when the war in Ukraine is taking place, which is the result of the Russian invasion of this country, Podkarpacie [a region of southwest Poland] has passed the test," the president said.

"The energy infrastructure in Ukraine was brutally destroyed and demolished by the Russians, and Ukrainians will not have in many cases ways to heat their apartments, they will not have hot water. It is likely that a new wave of refugees will flow into Poland,” Duda said.