But that report is being strongly contested tonight, especially by Moscow, which says no Russian missile has landed in Polish territory.

During the day, Russian forces launched waves of missile strikes across a wide area of Ukraine, with many targeting energy facilities, leaving millions of homes without power.

Ukrainian authorities say that more than 90 missiles have been fired, but more than 70 have been shot down by air defense systems.

Now, Ukraine's public broadcaster reported that the strikes have targeted Kyiv and the wider region,

as well as Kharkiv, Poltava, Mykolaiv, Dnipro, and several other towns and cities nationwide, a very extensive area.

Now, in that new development I mentioned tonight, US Intelligence claimed that Russian missiles had hit a farm in a Polish village near the Ukrainian border.

That's the village there and it's right near the border, as we can see.

Poland's Prime Minister has convened an urgent meeting of the National Security Committee.

So, we start tonight with this report by our international editor, Jeremy Bowen, who is in Odesa in southern Ukraine.

In the hours after the missiles hit, it wasn't clear whether the deadly events just inside the Polish border were a deliberate attack or something else.

Perhaps a targeting error or a missile malfunction.

Russia's Defense Ministry denied any involvement, calling it a "deliberate provocation aimed at escalation".

Poland's National Security Council went into emergency session; the Pols are coordinating with NATO.

Working out exactly what happened is vital.

The North Atlantic Treaty says an attack on one member is an attack on the whole alliance.

Because of the seriousness of the situation that we're dealing with, the President has just finished a conversation with the NATO Secretary General.

We are verifying the circumstances under which we might invoke Article Four.

It follows a day of missile attacks on Ukraine, one of the biggest since the war began.

There were strikes across the country⏤this was Kyiv.

Most of Ukraine's major cities were hit.

Attacking the infrastructure of the city is a common tactic in war, trying to pressure a government by making the lives of civilians hard.

I am against the war, and people have to remember that you can't give life back.

Those children who will never see their parents again; the children who will never be born.

A generation is being lost.

Ukraine's President, Zelensky, called for action.

Firing missiles at NATO territory is a Russian attack on collective security.

This is a very significant escalation; we must act.

I want to say now to all our Polish brothers and sisters: Ukraine will always support you.

Free people will not be broken by terror.

This evening in Kyiv, emergency services were still at work.

What happened here and across the country and what seems to have been a deadly leakage of the war into Poland amounts to a challenge of the highest order for Western leaders.

The attacks on Ukraine come a day after President Zelensky went to Kherson to celebrate its recapture.

He declared the defeat here was the beginning of the end for Russia in Ukraine.

The triumphant visit to Kherson was followed by severe diplomatic condemnation of Russia at the G-20 meeting.

Russia's answer?

More likely by design than coincidence was the day of missile strikes.

Well, in a moment, we'll be getting some response from Moscow and our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg.

First, let's go to Jeremy, Jeremy Bowen in Odesa.

Jeremy, can we talk a little about what's happened today and some of the conflicting reports that we've been mentioning?

Yes, well, first of all, for Ukraine, it's been a really awful day because of the large number of missile strikes that they've experienced,

probably the worst day that they've had with that in that department since the war began.

But these incidents in Poland are potentially, you know, really serious; I'll tell you why that is.

Because, as I said in the piece there, the North Atlantic Treaty Article Five means that all members of NATO treat an attack on one of them as an attack on everybody.

Now, the Pols have not asked for that to be invoked.

They mentioned in the clip that we had in that, Article Four.

Article Four is for urgent consultation, and that, it seems, is what's going to happen.

News agencies are reporting in the last few minutes that there is going to be meetings about this in Brussels tomorrow.

I think, certainly, what's going to go on now is a very, you know, exact look at what happened because the airspace of Ukraine and Poland is very, very deeply surveilled at the moment.

So, I think technologically, they can track where any missiles came from, the flight path of those missiles.

And, of course, at the site in Poland, there will be missile fragments, and they will be picking those up and taking them away for examination.

And that should give good clues as to where that missile came from.

Because, (I've) got to emphasize this tonight, it's quite confused; people do not know where it came from.

All kinds of accusations are flying about.

The Polish President has spoken to President Biden of the US, and he's also apparently spoken to President Zelensky in Kyiv.

So, a lot of diplomatic talking, diplomatic maneuvering, consultations coming up, but also, I emphasize again, uncertainty as to what exactly happened.

Jeremy, thanks very much, all of which takes us to Moscow and Steve Rosenberg, our Russia editor.

Steve, what's being said there?

Well, here, it's denial.

I mean, denial is the knee-jerk reaction of the Russian authorities whenever they are accused of something by the West.

And a denial is what we heard this evening, in the form of a short statement, from the Russian Defense Ministry,

which claimed that reports of alleged Russian missiles falling in Poland was not true.

It was a "deliberate provocation aimed at escalation", the Russians said

The statement also claimed that there were no strikes using Russian weapons on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish border.

Although, we have heard from Jeremy, of course, about this massive bombardment across Ukraine today.

At times like this, at times of crisis, what you need, I think, are channels of communication between the opposing sides.

Now, we know that relations between Russia and the West, Russia and NATO, Russia and America are bad⏤that's putting it mildly.

But those channels of communication do exist.

Only yesterday, Russia's spy chief met the CIA director for talks in Ankara about how to avoid nuclear escalation in the Ukraine War.

So, you might expect⏤you would hope⏤that conversations will be had between Russia and the West to find out what happened tonight and to avoid further escalation.

Steve, many thanks again; Steve Rosenberg, our Russia editor in Moscow, and before that, Jeremy Bowen in Odesa.