Blast at Mesko ammo plant could be Russian sabotage - Poland’s ex-defense chief

The explosion at the Mesko defense factory in the town of Skarzysko-Kamienna in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship in southern Poland may have been a Russian sabotage effort aiming to weaken Poland's defense capabilities.

This opinion was expressed by the former Minister of National Defense of Poland, Janusz Onyszkiewicz, who spoke in an exclusive comment to Ukrinform.

According to the ex-minister, this act "can reasonably be considered the work of Russian or Belarusian agencies", but primarily Russian, since the Belarusians are not working by their own scenario, rather acting on Russian orders. In his opinion, this also fits into the pattern of other events that happened earlier in the Czech Republic and Poland.

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"I am afraid that this could be the work of the Russian intelligence agencies, and it should be taken into account that we are now vulnerable to this kind of actions in various parts of the country. We need to draw conclusions and try to anticipate such plans on the part of Russia and thwart them," the ex-official noted.

According to the former minister of national defense, Moscow hardly hopes that this will somehow scare Poland off and that Warsaw will snub further assistance to Ukraine.

"I suggest they hope that such actions will weaken the possibility of building up Poland’s defense capabilities and supporting Ukraine. But, first of all, they use it in domestic politics in order to show that they can punish countries helping Ukraine," Onyszkiewicz stated.

As reported, as a result of the explosion that rocked the Mesko ammunition plant on Monday, a worker was killed and another was injured.

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Subsequently, the head of the Polish government, Donald Tusk, told a press conference that at the moment there was no evidence indicating that "external forces" were involved in the incident.

Earlier, Tusk said that since year-start, 10 people have been detained in the country for plotting or committing acts of sabotage in the interests of Russia or Belarus.