U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that it is «unlikely» that the missiles that hit Polish territory and killed two people were fired from Russia because of their trajectory.
After holding a meeting with NATO and G7 world leaders to discuss the accidental attack on the Polish village of Przewodow, the U.S. president said at a press conference that the states «unanimously» support an investigation to clarify what happened because of fears that it was an attack on a member country of the Atlantic Alliance.
In this sense, and after being asked if the projectiles had been fired from Russia, Biden has asserted that the information he has so far does not indicate such a thing.
«There is preliminary information that disproves it. I don’t want to say that until we fully investigate. But it’s unlikely, given the trajectory, that it was fired from Russia. But we’ll see. We’ll see,» the U.S. president said, according to a White House statement.
Still, Biden accused Russia of continuing its escalation in the Ukrainian war after launching «lots and lots» of attacks in western Ukraine on the day the G20 met in Bali, Indonesia.
«We support Ukraine fully at this time and have done so since the beginning of this conflict. And we’re going to continue to do whatever it takes to give them the ability to defend themselves,» he added.
During Tuesday afternoon two missiles have hit the Polish territory near the Ukrainian border causing the death of two people.
For now, Polish authorities have no conclusive evidence as to who is behind the launching of the projectiles, although they have indicated that the missiles were of Russian manufacture.
Polish President Andrzej Duda has called for calm and reported that his government is working together with its allies. «Polish soldiers are in place. The support of the allies is there and the commitments are being fulfilled,» said the country’s leader.
«NATO is on alert. We have strengthened the readiness of the Polish armed forces, including air defense. Our planes will be supported by allied aircraft,» he explained.
The Polish president also announced that «it is very likely» that this Wednesday Poland’s ambassador to NATO, Tomasz Szatkowski, will request the activation of Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
Since the creation of this article, it has been invoked seven times, most recently following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. At that time, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia requested consultations.
