Poland blames Russia for 2024 Warsaw shopping centre fire

One year after a massive fire devastated a shopping centre in Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has accused Russia of orchestrating the blaze.

“We now know with certainty that the large fire in the Marywilska shopping centre was caused by arson carried out on behalf of the Russian secret services,” Tusk wrote on X on Sunday.

According to the prime minister, some of the suspected perpetrators were already in custody, while others have been identified and are being pursued. “We will catch them all!” he vowed.

Poland’s interior and justice ministers issued a joint statement confirming that extensive evidence had been collected after a year of investigations, including documentation made by the suspects during the act.

The fire, which broke out on May 12, 2024, at the Marywilska 44 shopping centre in the north of the capital, destroyed around 1,400 shops and service outlets. No injuries were reported. Investigators later determined that the blaze had been ignited in multiple locations.

Many of the affected business owners were members of Warsaw’s Vietnamese community.