Przewodów missile investigation remains stalled over lack of Ukrainian cooperation
The investigation into the Przewodów missile incident, which killed two Polish citizens on 15 November 2022, has remained at a standstill for nearly three years because of a lack of cooperation from Ukraine, according to the Polish Prosecutor’s Office.
The tragedy occurred in Przewodów, a village near the Ukrainian border, when a missile struck the area and killed two agricultural workers: a 59-year-old warehouse employee and a 60-year-old tractor driver.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy initially insisted that the missile was Russian. Polish investigators, however, concluded that it had come from Ukraine, a finding later acknowledged publicly by then-Polish President Andrzej Duda.
Despite the deaths of two Polish civilians, the investigation has made no further progress. Polish prosecutors say requests for assistance sent to Kyiv have repeatedly gone unanswered, preventing them from completing the necessary investigative procedures.
Polish prosecutors say requests to Kyiv go unanswered
A representative of the Polish Prosecutor’s Office told radio station RMF24 that the investigation had effectively been paralysed by the Ukrainian authorities’ failure to cooperate.
“The investigation has not been progressing for almost three years because of the lack of cooperation from the Ukrainian side.”
According to the prosecutor’s representative, Poland has not formally decided to terminate the investigation. Requests for legal assistance continue to be sent to the Ukrainian authorities, but they have produced no response. The official described the unanswered requests as disappearing into a “black hole”, with Kyiv failing to respond to any of them over more than three years.
The difficulties are not new. Reports that Ukrainian non-cooperation was obstructing the Przewodów missile investigation first emerged in September 2023. In January 2024, the proceedings were formally suspended because it was impossible to carry out the necessary investigative steps without international legal assistance.
The case raises questions about accountability in a tragedy that claimed the lives of two Polish citizens. While Ukraineinitially rejected the conclusion that the missile was Ukrainian, its subsequent failure to respond to Polish legal requests has left the investigation unresolved.
For Poland, the outstanding issue is straightforward: two of its citizens died on Polish territory, yet the authorities remain unable to complete their investigation without cooperation from the neighbouring country.
More than three years after the explosion, the Przewodów missile investigation remains open in principle but stalled in practice, with no indication in the reported statements that the requested assistance has been provided.
