The data collected by NATO, the US, and Warsaw points to Kiev, the head of the National Security Bureau, Jacek Siewiera, said
FILE PHOTO. © AFP / Damien Simonart / Wojtek Radwanski
Evidence gathered by Poland, the US, and NATO suggests that it was a Ukrainian missile that killed two people on Polish territory not far from Ukraine’s border this week, the head of the country’s National Security Bureau (BBN), Jacek Siewiera, told the local RMF FM radio broadcaster on Thursday.
Earlier, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that the missile was likely a Ukrainian one. Washington, meanwhile, admitted it had no evidence that would contradict Duda’s assessment, while Kiev rushed to blame the incident on Moscow.
“All the evidence that has been collected on the NATO, American and our sides indicates that we are dealing with an S-300 missile launched by the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense,” Siewiera said on Thursday, without offering details on the information gathered by investigators. According to the BBN chief, the Polish Prosecutor’s Office is now leading the probe into the incident.
Warsaw would not object to Ukrainian “observers” joining the investigation, Siewiera said, adding that the Polish president in particular “sees no obstacles” for this if all legal requirements are met.
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He also justified Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s stance on the issue by reasoning that Ukraine is now going through the “hardest period” of its conflict with Russia when it comes to air strikes. It is “normal” for its president to stick to “hypotheses that seem obvious from the national defense point of view” under such circumstances, the BBN head argued.
Zelensky insisted the missile was Russian and backtracked on this claim only after it was disputed by US President Joe Biden. Later, Zelensky maintained that no one can know for sure whose missile killed the two Poles. On Tuesday, Russia said it did not strike any targets closer than 35 kilometers (21.7 miles) from the border with Poland.
When asked why Polish air defenses did not intercept the missile, Siewiera admitted that no air defense system was impenetrable. “It’s one thing to see an interceptor [missile] and another to shoot it down,” he said, adding that the Polish military also believed the missile was launched to intercept an airborne target “over the territory of Ukraine” and expected it to “perform its task.”
The incident came amid a major Russian missile attack on Ukraine. According to Zelensky, 85 missiles were launched at Ukrainian territory, with Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko calling it the “most massive shelling” of the nation’s energy infrastructure yet.