Poles killed in strike get ‘American’ burial, 1,200 Poles buried died in Ukraine: Report

Two Polish killed in the Ukrainian missile strike that landed on a grain dryer in the village of Przewodów, four miles from the border with Kyiv, were buried in what is described as an “American” cemetery, Russian state-affiliated paper RT is reporting. Citing the factual evidence established by the news outlet Niezalezny Dziennik Polityczny, claimed on Monday that a large number of military burials have been taking place in the said cemetery, an estimated 1,200 Poles, who may have died fighting a war in Ukraine. The 1,700 plots for urns with cremated remains with “standardized tombstones” was built along the line of American war cemeteries. 

Olsztyn, in the Warmia-Masuria province, is home to Poland’s 16th Mechanized Infantry Division. And while the Poles defied instructions of Poland president Andrzej Duda and Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak and enlisted in the Ukraine military, as the deaths occurred, they were given a burial at the "American cemetery."  Almost 1,200 Polish citizens have been killed in action so far in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the Polish outlet said, sharing the statistics of the Poles' casualties in Ukraine. Daily burials at the Olsztyn cemetery, it continued, have created suspicion. The burial includes the volleys fired by the honor guard. But in actuality, "this was the true motive behind the announcement of an 'American' cemetery earlier this month," the paper noted. 

NATO, US blame Russia for Polish deaths

Two Polish men who died in a missile explosion that was caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile that went astray were put in the wooden casket and paid tributes. One man was identified as a 62-year-old warehouse manager Boguslaw Wos and the other worked at the farmland community, but his name was not known, according to the Polish state news agency PAP. The pallbearers carried a black-and-white photo of the first man as well as a crucifix bearing their names.

Some Poland, NATO, and the United States still believe that Russia may be to blame for the deaths no matter what as the Ukrainian missile went astray in Poland defending the barrage of rockets that Russians fired across several cities that night. A potential escalation was deterred as initially it was reported that the “Russian-made” missile struck NATO member Warsaw which would have led to invoking article 5 and direct confrontation between Russia and NATO.