Preliminary US analysis indicates missile that hit Poland came from Ukraine

Two officials with information on the initial US assessments said it appeared the missile that killed two people in eastern Poland on Wednesday had departed from Ukrainian territory, although it was made in Russia.

The official said the assessment is what President Joe Biden appeared to be talking about in his earlier remarks when he said it was “unlikely” that the missile originated in Russia.

Officials said the intelligence assessments were discussed at the emergency meeting convened by Biden on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, and would also be a topic of conversation at a meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ambassadors. ) in Brussels.

The joint statement after the G7 meeting was also deliberately ambiguous when it came to the incident, putting far more focus on the dozens of strikes that took place hours before the missiles hit Poland.

A spokesman for the US National Security Council declined to comment on reports that the Russian-made missile that landed in eastern Poland killing two people was fired by Ukrainian forces trying to intercept a Russian attack.

“We have no comment and will not confirm this report. As the president said today, we support Poland’s ongoing investigation to find out exactly what happened,” the spokesperson said.

Biden has previously said preliminary information suggests the missile that landed in Poland is unlikely to have been fired from Russia after consulting with allies at the G20 summit in Indonesia.

“I don’t mean that [foi lançado da Rússia] until we fully investigate,” Biden continued. “It is unlikely, on the trajectory, that it was fired from Russia. But we shall see.”

Both Russian and Ukrainian forces used Russian-made munitions during the nine-month conflict.

THE CNN previously reported that Ukraine used Russian-made missiles as part of its air defense system. These older generation weapons systems date back to the period when Russia and Ukraine were part of the Soviet Union.

In a statement to CNN an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not explicitly deny reports that the missile originated in Ukraine, but emphasized Russia’s responsibility for starting the war.

“There is only one logic to follow,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff.

“The war has begun and is being waged by Russia. Russia is massively attacking Ukraine with cruise missiles. Russia turned the eastern part of the European continent into an unpredictable battleground. Intent, means of execution, risks, escalation – everything just comes from Russia.”

“And there can be no other explanation for any missile incident here. So when an aggressor country launches a massive and deliberate missile attack against a large country on the European continent with its obsolete Soviet-era weapons (Kh-class missiles), tragedy sooner or later also strikes in the territories of others. States.”