The US President Joe Biden has suggested to reporters that the missile that detonated late yesterday in Poland probably had not been fired from Russia. It was unclear from his remarks whether he meant the missile was not likely to have been fired from inside Russia, or by Russian forces in Ukraine or elsewhere, The New York Times notes.
Asked by a reporter whether the missile “was fired from Russia,” Biden replied, “There is preliminary information that contests that.” The trajectory of the missile made it unlikely “that it was fired from Russia,” he added.
Joe Biden and allies, including leaders of G7 and NATO nations, convened an emergency meeting to discuss the explosion on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia. In brief remarks afterward, Joe Biden said the leaders had agreed to support Poland’s investigation into the explosion, as per The New York Times. “I’m going to make sure we figure out exactly what happened,” Biden said. “And then we’re going to collectively figure out our next step and how to proceed,” the US President added.
Polish radio station Zet was first to announce that two missiles had hit the locality of Przewodów, the Lublin Voivodeship, yesterday evening. The local firefighters confirmed that there had been explosions in the area. At the same time, a brigade captain said that it was unclear what caused the incident. He also said that two people died at the emergency site.
Polish air force jets took off from the airfield in Tomaszów Lubelski shortly afterwards. Military expert Jarosław Wolski published photos from the missile landing site in Poland, suggesting that it could be either a Russian cruise missile or a Ukrainian air defence system missile but urged to wait for an official report. AP reported, citing a US intelligence official, that the missiles that crossed into Poland could be Russian.
Poland’s Foreign Ministry later announced that a missile made in Russia hit an area near the border with Ukraine; the agency later summoned Russia’s ambassador in the country. The Polish leader Andrzej Duda noted that there was no accurate evidence on which side had launched the missile shortly before Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki urgently convened the committee of the ministerial council for national security and defence, his press service reported.
