Poland’s President Andrzej Duda had a busy 24 hours in the aftermath of the missile incident in eastern Poland, as he met with CIA Director William Burns, spoke with President Joe Biden, and held a meeting with Poland’s National Security Council.
The meeting with Burns came on the back of the CIA director’s visits to Ankara and Kyiv. The talks with Duda focused on Poland’s overall security situation as well as Tuesday’s missile incident. The CIA director also met Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński.
On Tuesday night, Duda spoke to President Biden, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky to discuss the missile that hit Poland. Following the call with Biden, Washington issued a communique stating that the U.S. president offered Poland full support and assistance in investigating the missile incident. According to the Polish side, the U.S. once again confirmed the cast-iron guarantees within the NATO alliance.
Russian forces on Tuesday launched a concerted missile attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. At the same time, a missile exploded in eastern Poland killing two people.
Speaking in Warsaw, President Duda emphasized that there is nothing to suggest that the missile incident in Poland was an intentional attack on his country. He said the rocket was not aimed at Poland and revealed that the missile that exploded was probably an S-300 rocket made by Russia in the 1970s.
Duda also confirmed that ”there is no evidence that the missile had been fired by the Russians.” He added that there was a very high likelihood that it “was part of the Ukrainian anti-missile air defenses” and had been fired by Ukraine to intercept an incoming Russian missile but missed and found its way into Poland.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said it had evidence that the missile that hit eastern Poland was launched by Russian forces. President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had received reports from the command of Ukraine’s armed forces and air force and “cannot but trust them.”
Ukraine is requesting “immediate access” to the site of the explosion in eastern Poland. A senior Ukrainian defense official, Oleksiy Danilov, said Ukraine wanted a “joint study” of Tuesday’s incident with its partners.
President Andrzej Duda said both Poland and the U.S. would have to agree before Ukraine could take part in the investigation.
