The missile was probably not aimed at Poland, according to the United States
There is no evidence that a missile that struck a Polish border town near Ukraine was an intentional attack on his country, Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Wednesday.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and NATO leaders backed Duda’s claim. The missile, which killed two people in a rural area, appears to be Russian-made, Duda said. Ukrainian armament includes Russian-made missiles.
“The Ukrainian defense was launching its missiles in different directions and it is very likely that one of these missiles unfortunately fell on Polish territory,” Duda said. “Nothing, absolutely nothing, suggests that this was an intentional attack on Poland.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters that, based on information from his top commanders, “it was not our missile or our missile strike”, adding that his officials should have access to the site and participate in the investigation.
He also said that if the evidence shows the missile came from Ukraine, “then we have to apologize.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a meeting of the military alliance in Brussels said preliminary analysis suggests the incident was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile fired at Russian cruise missile attacks.
“But let me be clear: it’s not Ukraine’s fault,” he said. “Russia bears the ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said photos of the wreckage released by Poland indicated the missile came from a Ukrainian S-300 missile defense system. Russia itself carried out massive missile strikes on Ukrainian cities on Tuesday, knocking out power to millions.
“All missiles launched hit their designated targets accurately,” the Defense Ministry’s press service said in a statement. Ukraine said it shot down more than 70 of the 90 to 100 missiles fired, in addition to 11 drones.
US AND NATO INVESTIGATE EXPLOSION IN POLAND:Biden says missile unlikely to have been fired from Russia
Latest developments:
► With Democrats still in control of both houses of Congress for the rest of the year, President Joe Biden will seek more than $37 billion in emergency aid from Ukraine – nearly 60% of it in military assistance – in part of the package to finance the US government until the end of September 2023.
►In light of a missile that landed in Poland and killed two people on Tuesday, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted that it was “time for Europe to ‘lock the sky on (Ukraine)’.” For your own safety too.”
►French President Emmanuel Macron has urged China to play a greater mediating role in efforts to end the war. He said he could meet President Xi Jinping in Beijing next year.
►The Czech Republic has agreed to train up to 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers on Czech territory. The Ministry of Defense said the training will include five rotations with up to 800 soldiers each, starting in the next few weeks.
►Sweden said it would provide Ukraine with military aid worth $290 million and a humanitarian aid package worth $70 million.
The agreement on grains of “cautious” optimism will be renewed
The United Nations is “cautiously optimistic” that the Ukraine-Russia grain deal will be extended beyond its expiry date on Saturday, allowing the continued shipment from Black Sea ports of agricultural products that are essential for prevent a global food crisis.
A UN official not authorized to speak publicly said Wednesday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had a “very positive” discussion on the subject at the G-20 summit with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The agreement, approved on July 22 and brokered by the UN and Turkey, allowed Ukraine to export more than 11 million metric tons of wheat and Russia to ship its grain and fertilizers to global markets. An extension would last 120 days.
US claims blast in Poland was not an intentional Russian attack
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed on Wednesday that the United States believes the missile that slammed into a Polish border town near Ukraine on Tuesday was an errant air defense projectile launched from Kyiv.
“We are still collecting information, but we have not seen anything that contradicts the preliminary assessment of (Polish) President Duda that this explosion was most likely the result of a Ukrainian air defense missile which unfortunately landed in Poland,” Austin said. “And regardless of the final conclusions, the world knows that Russia bears ultimate responsibility for this incident.”
At a news conference alongside Austin, Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said his staff tried to reach Russia’s top military official, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, on the phone to discuss the incident and had “no success.”
– Josh Meyer
Kremlin has rare praise for US leaders
The deadly missile strike in Poland showed once again that rushing to judgment can make things worse, but US officials have shown restraint during the crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said on Wednesday. . Dmitry Peskov blasted Europe’s and Ukraine’s reaction to the incident as another example of “frenzied Russophobia”.
Hours after the strike, President Joe Biden said it was “unlikely” that Russia intentionally fired the missile at Poland.
“In this case, it makes sense to pay attention to the sober and much more professional response from the American side and the American president,” Peskov said.
Peskov told the official Tass news agency that communication channels between the defense ministries of Russia and the United States continued to work. He pointed to “a rather moderate reaction from the Americans, which contrasts sharply with the absolutely hysterical reactions from the Polish side and a number of other countries.”
Lviv struggling with power limitations
The southern and eastern regions of Ukraine have suffered the worst Russian missile fire since the start of the war. But Western cities are far from exempt. Electricity has been restored to 95% of the Lviv region, but only 30% of consumers can use electricity at the same time due to capacity limits, provincial governor Maksym Kozytskyy said on Wednesday. He added that it could take a year to fully restore the power grid.
Kozytskyy said the province was better prepared for the latest Russian attack on the grid. Engineers were able to work using diesel generators, and substations in the area were equipped with additional protective shields. In addition, a large number of cars equipped with loudspeakers were quickly deployed to warn residents, he said.
Ukrainian air defense is improving
Ukraine’s air defenses shot down 73 of some 100 Russian missiles – and all of the drones – in Tuesday’s massive assault on the country, Ukraine’s General Staff said. In a coordinated assault on Oct. 10, the Ukrainians shot down 43 out of 84 cruise missiles and 13 out of 24 drones, the Institute for the Study of War reported.
“The increase in Ukraine’s kill percentage illustrates the improvement in Ukrainian air defenses over the past month,” the institute said in its latest wartime assessment. “The Ukrainian General Staff attributed this improvement to the effectiveness of air defense systems provided by the West.”
The institute also said Russian forces are significantly depleting their stockpile of high-precision weapons systems and will likely need to slow down the pace of their campaign against critical Ukrainian infrastructure.
Contribute: The Associated Press
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