Biden disputes Zelensky’s missile claim
US President Joe Biden has cast doubt on a claim made by his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky that a missile that killed two people in a Polish village did not belong to Kiev.
On Wednesday, Zelensky stated that the projectile that landed in the Polish village of Przewodow near the Poland-Ukraine border was not Ukrainian. “I have no doubt that it was not our missile or our missile strike,” he said at the time.
However, speaking to reporters on Thursday, the US leader replied to this statement by saying: “That's not the evidence.”
His comment comes a day after Biden said that it is “unlikely” that the missile that landed in Poland on Tuesday was fired by Russia, adding that its trajectory did not support such a version of events.
After the missile blast, which killed two farm workers, the Polish foreign minister claimed that the projectile was “Russian-made.” Later, however, Polish President Andrzej Duda indicated that it was probably a Ukrainian air defense missile. Other Western officials also supported this conclusion, although they asserted that the ultimate responsibility for the incident rests with Russia due to its having launched a military operation against the neighboring state in the first place.
The Russian Defense Ministry denied any involvement, saying its military experts had analyzed the photos from the scene and identified parts of the projectile “as elements of a missile from the S-300 air defense system used by the Air Force of Ukraine.”
In the hours following the incident, Zelensky rushed to pin the blame on Russia, describing the event as “a very serious escalation.” He also urged the West to put Russia “in its place” and branded the country as “terrorist."
