Bogdan Wos wasn’t going to sit around his house in the village of Przewodow in eastern Poland and do nothing when Ukrainians began streaming across the border in February seeking safety from Russia’s invasion.

Mr. Wos, 62, was the kind of guy people in Przewodow turned to for help. Neighbours called him the heart and soul of the community, the man who greeted everyone with a smile, a warm hello and often a hug.

So it wasn’t surprising that Mr. Wos led the village’s 500 residents in supporting Ukrainian refugees. His employer, Italy-based Agrocom, agreed to allow the office space in its warehouse in Przewodow to serve as a makeshift shelter and Mr. Wos quickly filled it with refugees.

He worked day and night making sure they had clothing, food and other essentials. By the time the shelter wound down operations a couple of months ago, Mr. Wos had supported more than 200 Ukrainians and helped many move on to other countries.

Then on Tuesday a cruel twist of fate shook Przewodow. At least one missile, likely fired by Ukraine’s air defence forces, slammed into the Agrocom warehouse at around 4 p.m. The building, once a safe haven for Ukrainians fleeing the war, was destroyed. Mr. Wos and another long-time employee, 60-year-old Bogdan Ciupek, were unloading a truck filled with corn when the rocket hit. Both died on the spot.

Polish officials have said that the evidence so far suggested the deaths were the result of an errant Ukrainian rocket. “There are many indications that a missile used to shoot down Russian missiles missed its target, and then the self-destruct system failed to work and this, unfortunately, led to tragedy,” Jakub Kumoch, a foreign policy adviser to President Andrzej Duda, told Polish television on Thursday.

Officials in Ukraine have disputed that conclusion. They have cited evidence the missile was fired by Russian forces and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that officials from his country should be allowed to join the probe into the strike. Meanwhile the Russians have insisted that their military has not fired any rockets into Poland.

None of the finger pointing has provided much consolation for people in Przewodow.

Even though the village is just three kilometres from the Ukrainian border, the war feels a lot closer now and many people fear another missile strike could happen at any moment. They also mourn the madness of war, how it shattered a place that once offered hope to so many people and killed a man who only wanted to help.

“For now I don’t know how we will live without him,” said Halina Malinowska, 71, who has known Mr. Wos for more than 40 years. “I knew him from 1976 when I started to live here.”

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-before-it-was-hit-by-missiles-polish-grain-facility-was-used-as/