Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has sent his condolences to Poland after a missile attack near the country's border with Ukraine left two people dead.
Speaking from the G20 group leaders' summit in Bali today, he said the Russian government's "reckless and dangerous use of force" risked destabilising the whole of Eastern Europe.
"Russia's reckless and dangerous use of force promotes danger for the entire region, and we've seen that overnight. I send my condolences to Poland on the loss of life."
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Albanese said he supported calls by US President Joe Biden and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg for a full investigation into the incident.
"That must take place, and then we should consider what as an international community is an appropriate response," he said.
Earlier today, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong condemned the attack on Poland.
"This reckless use of force is illegal and immoral," she said.
Wong said she has been in contact with her counterparts in Poland and other parts of Europe and Australia will continue to monitor the situation.
Earlier today, US President Joe Biden said preliminary information suggests it is unlikely the missile that caused an explosion in Poland and killed two civilians was fired from Russia.
That view was shared by three US officials, who said preliminary assessments suggested the missile was fired by Ukrainian forces at an incoming Russian one amid the crushing salvo against Ukraine's electrical infrastructure Tuesday.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.
Biden was speaking after he convened an "emergency" meeting of the Group of Seven and NATO leaders in Indonesia for consultations after NATO-ally Poland said a "Russian-made" missile hit the eastern part of its country near the Ukraine border.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting in Bali, the US president was asked if it was too early to say whether the projectile was fired from Russia.
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"There is preliminary information that contests that. I don't want to say that until we completely investigate it," Biden responded.
He added that "it's unlikely in the minds of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia. But we'll see."
Biden, who was awakened overnight by staff with the news of the missile explosion while in Indonesia for the Group of 20 summit, called Polish President Andrzej Duda early today to express his "deep condolences" for the loss of life.
Biden promised on Twitter "full US support for and assistance with Poland's investigation," and "reaffirmed the United States' ironclad commitment to NATO."
Meeting at a large round table in a ballroom in his hotel, the US president hosted the leaders of the G-7, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the European Union, along with the president of the European Council and the prime ministers of NATO allies Spain and the Netherlands.
Biden replied "no" to reporters who asked if he would provide an update on the situation in Poland.
A statement from the Polish Foreign Ministry identified the missile as being made in Russia.
But Poland's president, Duda, was more cautious about its origin, saying that officials did not know for sure who fired it or where it was made.
He said it was "most probably" Russian-made, but that is being still verified.
If confirmed, it would be the first time since the invasion of Ukraine that a Russian weapon came down on a NATO country.
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The statement does not say who fired the missile and both sides in the conflict have used Russian-made munitions.
Poland's foreign ministry has summoned the Russian ambassador to explain why a Russian-made missile fell on Polish territory killing two people, a ministry spokesperson said.
A Russian missile barrage on the Ukrainian power grid sent the war spilling over into neighbouring countries this morning.
A high-level US intelligence officer told Associated Press a Russian missile had landed in Poland's territory.
Officially, the US still has not confirmed any findings from the incident, while Russia has denied any missile striking Poland came from them.
The strikes plunged much of Ukraine into darkness and drew defiance from President Volodymr Zelenskyy, who shook his fist and declared: "We will survive everything".
Wong condemned the attack on Ukraine and called reports of missiles falling on Polish territory "deeply concerning".
"We again call on Russia to withdraw its forces and end its illegal, immoral war," she said on Twitter.
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Russia's Defence Ministry has denied targeting the border, and called the reports by Polish media "a deliberate provocation in order to escalate the situation," according to a short statement.
"The statements of the Polish media and officials about the alleged fall of 'Russian' missiles in the area of the settlement of Przewodow is a deliberate provocation in order to escalate the situation," it said, adding that "there were no strikes made on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border."
It added that the photos of wreckage published by the Polish media "from the scene in the village of Przewodow have nothing to do with Russian weapons".
The US government has still held back from official confirmation.
"We have seen these reports out of Poland and are working with the Polish government and NATO partners to gather more information," a US State Department spokesman said.
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"We can't confirm the reports or any of the details at this time, but I can assure you we will determine what happened and what the appropriate next steps would be."
Polish media reported that two people died Tuesday afternoon after a projectile struck an area where grain was drying in Przewodów, a Polish village near the border with Ukraine.
A photo purporting to show the site of the missile impact showed a tractor-trailer overturned and a crater in the ground.
NATO members respond
Strikes on Poland could result in a significant escalation of the conflict, given the country is a NATO member.
The alliance will have an emergency meeting on Wednesday morning local time in Brussels, Belgium, chaired by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also spoken with his Polish counterpart Zbigniew Rau, Łukasz Jasina, the spokesperson for the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and US State Department officials confirmed.
Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks tweeted his "condolences to our Polish brothers in arms. Criminal Russian regime fired missiles which target not only Ukrainian civilians but also landed on NATO territory in Poland. Latvia fully stands with Polish friends and condemns this crime."
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has said he was concerned by the news, and that "Lithuania stands in strong solidarity with Poland".
"Every inch of NATO territory must be defended!" he added on social media.
There's been no confirmation from Polish authorities that Russian missiles landed on Polish territory.
Another NATO member, Estonia, described the reports as "most concerning."
The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented on Twitter: "Latest news from Poland is most concerning. We are consulting closely with Poland and other Allies.
"Estonia is ready to defend every inch of NATO territory. We're in full solidarity with our close ally Poland."
Neighbouring Moldova was also affected.
It reported massive power outages after the strikes knocked out a key power line that supplies the small nation, an official said.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is a group of 30 North American and European nations.
According to NATO, its purpose "is to guarantee the freedom and security of its members through political and military means."
The alliance was created in 1949 in response to the start of the Cold War.
Its original purpose was to protect the West from the threat posed by the Soviet Union.
Since the end of the Cold War, many former Soviet nations have joined NATO, much to the annoyance of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The best-known aspect of the alliance is Article 5 of the treaty, which, if invoked, means "an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies".
Article 5 has only ever been invoked once, in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US.
Former US Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker said the "worst" thing the alliance could do was remain silent in the face of the missile strike in Poland.
"I don't think we should be that surprised, with Russia launching all these attacks against Ukraine, they might accidentally hit Poland – and that, I think, is what happened," he told CNN.
"But that being said, that's unacceptable."
Article 4 of the NATO treaty orders members to gather if an ally was concerned about security.
Volker said NATO had to demand an explanation from Russia, and "ideally" would receive a response to say the missile falling into Poland was an accident.
Russian silence, or an alternative response, should see NATO tell Moscow any further attack would generate a "proportionate response".
"The worst thing would be silence on NATO's part," he said.
Ukraine facing a cold, dark winter
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia fired at least 85 missiles, "most of them at our energy infrastructure", and shut down power in many cities.
"We're working, will restore everything. We will survive everything," the president vowed.
His energy minister said it was "the most massive" bombardment of power facilities in the nearly nine-month-old Russian invasion.
The minister, Herman Haluschenko, described the missile strikes as "another attempt at terrorist revenge" after military and diplomatic setbacks for the Kremlin.
He accused Russia of "trying to cause maximum damage to our energy system on the eve of winter."
The aerial assault, which resulted in at least one death in a residential building in the capital, Kyiv, followed days of euphoria in Ukraine sparked by one of its biggest military successes — the retaking last week of the southern city of Kherson.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has not commented on the retreat from Kherson since his troops pulled out in the face of a Ukrainian offensive.
But the stunning scale of Tuesday's strikes spoke volumes and hinted at anger in the Kremlin.
By striking targets in the late afternoon, not long before dusk began to fall, the Russian military forced rescue workers to labour in the dark and gave repair crews scant time to assess the damage by daylight.
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At least a dozen regions reported strikes.
Zelenskyy said around 20 more strikes might be on the way. He urged people to stay safe and seek shelter.
"Most of the hits were recorded in the centre and in the north of the country. In the capital, the situation is very difficult," said a senior official, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, appealing to Ukrainians to "hang in there".
The assault followed days of euphoria in Ukraine after one of its biggest military successes in the nearly nine-month Russian invasion — the retaking last week of the southern city of Kherson.
As its battlefield losses mount, Russia has in recent months increasingly resorted to targeting Ukraine's power grid, seemingly hoping to turn the approach of winter into a weapon by leaving people in the cold and dark.
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Among regions where officials reported strikes were Lviv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi and Rivne in the west, and Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city in the north-east.
Several missile strikes also hit Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's native city, according to its mayor, Oleksandr Vilkul.
In Kyiv, video published by a presidential aide showed a five-storey, apparently residential building on fire, with flames licking through apartments.
The city mayor said three residential buildings were struck and that air defence units shot down other missiles.
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Klitschko added on his Telegram social media channel that medics and rescuers are being scrambled to the sites of the attacks.
Ukraine had seen a period of comparative calm since previous waves of drone and missile attacks several weeks ago.
The strikes came as authorities were already working furiously to get Kherson back on its feet and beginning to investigate alleged Russian abuses there and its surrounds.
The southern city is without power and water and the head of the UN human rights office's monitoring mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, on Tuesday decried a "dire humanitarian situation" there.
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Speaking from Kyiv, Bogner said her teams are looking to travel to Kherson to try to verify allegations of nearly 80 cases of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention it has turned up in the area and "understand whether the scale is in fact larger than what we have documented already".
The head of the National Police of Ukraine, Igor Klymenko, said authorities are to start investigating reports from Kherson residents that Russian forces set up at least three alleged torture sites in now-liberated parts of the wider Kherson region and that "our people may have been detained and tortured there".
"Mine clearance is currently underway. After that, I think, today, investigative actions will begin," he said on Ukrainian TV.
The retaking of Kherson was one of Ukraine's biggest successes in the nearly nine-month-old Russian invasion and dealt another stinging blow to the Kremlin.
But large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine remain under Russian control and fighting continues.
Zelenskyy on Tuesday likened the recapture of the Kherson to the Allied landings in France on D-Day in World War II, saying both were watersheds on the road to eventual victory.
The liberation of Kherson — the only provincial capital that Moscow had seized — has allowed families to be reunited for the first time in months.
But as winter approaches, the city's remaining 80,000 residents are without heat, water or electricity, and short on food and medicine.
Still, US President Joe Biden called it a "significant victory" for Ukraine.
In his address to the G20, Zelenskyy called for the creation of a special tribunal to try Russian military and political figures for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, and the creation of an international mechanism to compensate Kyiv for wartime deaths and destruction.
Zelenskyy referred to the G20 meeting as "the G-19 summit," adhering to Kyiv's line that Russia should be excluded from the grouping.
"Everywhere, when we liberate our land, we see one thing — Russia leaves behind torture chambers and mass burials. … How many mass graves are there in the territory that still remains under the control of Russia?" Zelenskyy pointedly asked.
