Biden hits out at Zelensky and sticks by claim that missiles that landed on Poland were Ukrainian

President Joe Biden appeared to break with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Thursday, sticking by his claim that the fatal explosions that killed two in Poland were caused by Ukrainian missiles. 

Biden was asked about Zelensky’s statement that the strikes close to his nation’s border were caused by a Russian missile, despite several world leaders suggesting it was likely of Ukrainian origin.

The president, speaking to reporters upon returning to the White House from the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, said: ‘That’s not the evidence.’

Warsaw initially claimed it came from Russia, which could have seen NATO invoking Article 5 in which an attack on one country is considered an attack on all of them, sparking a collective defense effort.

Now, western leaders, including the United States, have said it was probably launched by Ukrainian air defense, easing fears that the strike could drag NATO into direct conflict with Russia, but giving Vladimir Putin excuse to lash out at the West. 

The Ukrainian president was quoted by Interfax Ukraine news agency as saying on Wednesday he had no doubt that an explosion that killed two people in Poland was not caused by a Ukrainian missile.

‘I have no doubt that it was not our missile,’ he said, adding that he believed Tuesday’s explosion was caused by a Russian missile, and that he had based his conclusions on reports from Ukraine’s military which he ‘cannot but trust’.

Zelensky also said he believes that Ukraine should already have been given access to the site of the explosion to be involved in the analysis of debris to determine the origin of the suspected missile. 

‘Do we have the right to be in the investigation team? Of course,’ he said.

Zelensky also confirmed Kyiv had received no offer from Moscow to start peace talks despite concerns of an escalation in the war following the incident.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this week that Ukraine was not interested in holding peace talks with Russia, but Zelensky declared: ‘[The Russians] do not communicate with us.’

Poland meanwhile installed barbed wire along its border with Russia earlier today after the deadly incident on Tuesday afternoon.

Soldiers were seen laying down the razor wire near Szyliny village near the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

The 8ft high and 10ft wide defenses are being put up amid soaring tensions between the two countries to prevent illegal crossings into Poland.

There are fears that Russia could deliberately flood Poland with an influx of migrants to wreak havoc in the EU.

NATO member states are also discussing bolstering their air defenses in the east, with Slovakia demanding additional systems from alliance partners to ‘safeguard even more the security of Slovak citizens’, their defense minister said.

Lithuania has also called for more defenses along the Polish-Ukraine border and on the rest of NATO’s eastern flank, with president Gitanas Nauseda saying: ‘NATO sky must be 100 per cent defended.’

Concerns that the war would escalate were raised dramatically with the missile that was fired into Poland on Tuesday, killing two farmers.

The Kremlin has now summoned the Polish ambassador to Moscow to the foreign ministry to explain their ‘absolutely hysterical’ reaction. 

Today, Polish President Andrzej Duda, speaking after a meeting of his security council Wednesday, said he has seen ‘no evidence’ the missile was fired by Russia and it was in fact ‘highly probable’ the Soviet-era S-300 rocket came from Ukraine. There is no indication that Poland was deliberately targeted, he added. 

‘Ukraine’s defense was launching their missiles in various directions and it is highly probable that one of these missiles unfortunately fell on Polish territory,’ according to Duda, who added that Russia bears ultimate responsibility for the strike because Putin began the war in Ukraine.

Jens Stoltenberg, head of NATO, backed that analysis – saying the strike was likely a Ukrainian missile, there is ‘no indication’ it was deliberate and there is ‘no indication’ Russia is preparing an attack on NATO. However, he added: ‘This is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine.’ 

Ludivine Dedonder, the Belgian defense minister, said preliminary investigations by his security forces indicate the same thing – adding to reports that emerged in the early hours suggesting Biden had also told NATO leaders the rocket was from Ukraine. 

Hours after the incident, Volodymyr Zelensky had blamed it on ‘Russian missile terror’, and Kyiv is yet to concede its own missile was involved. Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said Kyiv wanted access to the site and still saw a Russian ‘trace’ behind the attack. 

The news came after a nervous night in which it looked like NATO and Russia could be heading for a direct confrontation that would have risked triggering World War Three, and it underlines the risk that a single mistake or miscalculation in Ukraine could yet spark such a conflict. 

Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish Prime Minister, said it may no longer be necessary to trigger NATO Article 4 – which calls for discussions among allies over a threat – but that allies will strengthen air defenses in the region.

However, that will come as small comfort to the families of the two men killed, who were identified by Polish media as a tractor driver called Bogdan C and a warehouse foreman called Boguslaw W, both aged in their 60s.

Locals said the pair were working to offload grain at a drying facility when the missile hit, killing them instantly. 

The blast happened around 900ft from a housing compound where around 500 people live. If the missile had struck it, casualties would have been much higher.

Horrified residents reported hearing ‘strange whistles’ as the missile flew overhead and then ‘a massive explosion, about a thousand decibels.’

Neighbours say that Boguslaw who had worked in the grain silo warehouse for 40 years lived with his wife and elderly mother-in-law, who they both looked after. He is reported to have two grown up children who live in Krakow. 

Bogdan C., who worked as a driver for the plant, lived in the nearby village of Setniki. A neighbour told local media: ‘We all know each other, it’s not a big town. 

‘We have never experienced such a tragedy. They were good people.’ 

Another told news portal interia.pl: ‘Boguslaw went to work as usual and at around 4pm his wife realized that something bad had happened. 

‘Some of the neighbors, out of compassion and curiosity, wanted to visit his wife but she was in a frenzy, she did not want to talk, she looked into the distance and cried. ‘She was in terrible shock.’

Zelensky, addressing the G20 for a second time Wednesday, said the strike on Poland was ‘a true statement brought by Russia for the G20 summit.’

‘There is a terrorist state among you, and we are defending ourselves against it. That is the reality,’ he added, though Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had already departed the conference late Tuesday. 

Sunak, speaking as the G20 broke up with a joint statement condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine, said allies are still working to ‘establish the facts’ of what happened in Poland.

He added: ‘The persistent threat to our security and global asphyxiation has been driven by the actions of the one man unwilling to be at this summit – Vladimir Putin.

‘There isn’t a single person in the world who has not felt the impact of Putin’s war.’

‘What we agreed this morning is that it is important to establish the facts and this is exactly what is happening as we speak. We will get to the bottom of what happened.

‘[The strike] was happening at a time when the G20 was gathered trying to find resolution to some of the world’s challenges. I think it shows utter contempt for the international rules-based system.’

The dramatic development came on another day of bloodshed and destruction in Ukraine, with more than 100 Russian missiles landing in major population centers, killing three and cutting the power supply to millions. 

Zelensky spoke by phone Tuesday with Polish counterpart Duda, offering his condolences following reports of the alleged Russian missile strike on Polish soil.

‘Expressed condolences over the death of Polish citizens from Russian missile terror. We exchanged available information and are clarifying all the facts. Ukraine, Poland, all of Europe and the world must be fully protected from terrorist Russia,’ Zelensky said in a tweet. 

Stoltenberg said on Twitter: ‘Spoke with President Duda about the explosion in Poland. I offered my condolences for the loss of life. NATO is monitoring the situation and Allies are closely consulting. Important that all facts are established.’

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meanwhile declared: ‘Alarmed by reports of an explosion in Poland, following a massive Russian missile strike on Ukrainian cities. I extend my condolences and my strongest message of support and solidarity with Poland and our Ukrainian friends,’ adding she was in close contact with Polish security officials.

Sunak in a tweet said Britain will support allies as they establish what happened.

‘We are also coordinating with our international partners, including NATO,’ Sunak said.

French president Emmanuel Macron said: ‘The consequences of this conflict go beyond European borders’.

Latvian deputy prime minister Artis Pabriks tweeted: ‘My condolences to our Polish brothers in arms. Criminal Russian regime fired missiles which target not only Ukrainian civilians but also landed on Nato territory.’

Estonia’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs added: ‘Estonia is ready to defend every inch of Nato territory.’

And UK defense commentator Rear Admiral Chris Parry said it was ‘time to station advanced anti-air systems on Nato’s borders and intercept anything that looks like it would cross those borders’.

Russia on Tuesday unleashed one of its largest missile barrages to date at Ukraine, leaving the country’s energy network ‘critical’ with rolling blackouts.

More than 100 rockets were fired at cities across the country, hitting civilian buildings and power stations, the Ukrainian air force said.

Tuesday’s bombardment left half of Kyiv, where at least one civilian died, and the whole city of Zhytomyr without power.

Strikes were also reported in the western city of Lviv – the closest large urban settlement to the Polish border – and caused partial blackouts.

Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, Rivne, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Khmelnytskyi, and Ivano-Frankivsk were also targeted.

The bombardment came as German newspaper Der Spiegel reported that documents leaked from the German military said one of the country’s top generals, Eberhard Zorn, ordered the country’s army to put itself on a war footing in the face of ‘existential’ threats.

The 68-page policy paper was produced in September, according to Der Spiegel. In it, Zorn called for the complete overhaul of the German military and told commanders to prepare themselves for war.

‘Attacks on Germany can potentially occur without warning and with great, possibly even existential, damage,’ he wrote.

Attacks on Ukraine came just hours after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky – speaking via videolink from Kyiv – told world leaders at the G20 Bali summit that he is ready to end the war provided Russia withdraws its troops from areas it currently occupies.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov – speaking later at the summit in Indonesia – accused the West of waging ‘hybrid war’ in Ukraine and Kyiv of ‘prolonging’ the conflict, without mentioning Russia’s own involvement in the fighting.

‘There is an attack on the capital. According to preliminary information, two residential buildings were hit in the Pechersk district,’ Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

‘Several missiles were shot down over Kyiv by air defense systems. Medics and rescuers are at the scene of the strikes.’

Moments later, he added: ‘Another hit in the Pechersk district. Multi-storey building.’

Andriy Yermak, head of Zelensky’s staff, said the attack was a response to the president addressing the G20 – ramping up pressure on Russia to stop its attacks.

‘Does anyone seriously think that the Kremlin really wants peace? It wants obedience. But at the end of the day, terrorists always lose,’ Yermak said.

Russian forces have in recent weeks been targeting energy infrastructure across Ukraine and has launched barrages of missiles and swarms of drones.

Around a third of Ukraine’s power-generating capacity has been taken out, causing rolling blackouts across the country just as winter hits.

Kyiv was last targeted by Russian forces nearly one month ago on October 17.

Russia faced mounting diplomatic pressure Tuesday to end its war in Ukraine, as G20 allies and critics alike rued the painful global impact of nearly nine months of conflict.

A draft communique obtained by AFP showed the world’s 20 leading economies coming together to condemn the war’s effects, but still divided on apportioning blame.

The summit has shown that even Russia’s allies have limited patience with a conflict that has inflated food and energy prices worldwide and raised the spectre of nuclear war.

Risking diplomatic isolation, Russia was forced to agree that the war in Ukraine – which Moscow refuses to call a war – has ‘adversely impacted the global economy’.