Gleb Garanich | Reuters Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had “no doubt” that his country was not responsible for a missile attack that hit a Polish village, killing two people, despite NATO’s initial assessment that the explosion occurred as Ukraine tried to defend itself against Russia. . Zelensky told Ukrainian television on Wednesday that his top military commanders had assured him that “it was not our missile and not our missile attack” that was the cause of Tuesday’s incident, which sparked international outrage and fears that a wider conflict between NATO and Russia could explode. “I have no doubt about [Tuesday’s] report to me personally — from the Commander of the Air Force to the Commander-in-Chief [Valery] Zaluzhny — that it was not our missile and not our missile strike,” Zelenskyy said. He repeated calls for Kyiv to grant him access to the site of the explosion, near the village of Przewodow in southeastern Poland and just 4 miles from the Ukrainian border, and for Ukraine to join a joint investigation led by Poland and the US “I think we have the right to that. Is it possible to withhold final conclusions until the investigation is complete? I think that’s fair. If someone says this is our missile, should we be on a joint investigation team? I think it should, it’s fair.” Suspicion of who was behind the attack fell on Russia, especially given the massive barrage of rocket attacks its forces unleashed on cities across Ukraine on Tuesday. Poland and its other NATO allies, particularly those in the Baltics and Eastern Europe, initially appeared to assume that Russia was behind the attack, although it denied responsibility and called the incident a “deliberate provocation”. Police man a checkpoint outside the scene in Przewodow, Poland, where authorities in Warsaw say a Russian-made missile struck its territory, killing two civilians. Omar Marques | News Getty Images | Getty Images As a flurry of high-level diplomatic meetings took place on Wednesday, with NATO itself holding an emergency meeting, more details emerged surrounding the incident with Western officials suggesting that initial investigations indicated a Ukrainian air defense system was responsible. However, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed that Russia was ultimately responsible for the incident due to its ongoing aggression in Ukraine. Speaking to the press, Stoltenberg said the “preliminary analysis by the military alliance suggests that the incident was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile launched to defend Ukrainian territory from Russian cruise missile attacks.” “But let me be clear, it is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears the ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine,” he said. Stoltenberg noted that the missile incident took place “as Russia launched a massive wave of rocket attacks across Ukraine” and that “there was no indication that this was the result of a deliberate attack,” nor any indication that it was the result of “offensive military actions against NATO”. Members of the Polish Police search and inspect fields near the village of Przewodow in Poland on November 16, 2022, after two people were killed in a rocket attack. Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images Despite NATO absolving Ukraine – and even the traumatized part of Poland accepting the missile attack as an “isolated incident” and reiterating its support for Ukraine – Kyiv was quick to defend and push back on the initial findings of the inquiry . Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, tweeted that Kyiv wanted to see the evidence its allies had that suggested it was involved. Danilov said on Twitter that Ukraine was “ready to hand over the evidence of Russian traces that we have,” but that Kyiv was still waiting for “information from our partners, which concluded that this is a Ukrainian air defense missile.” .” When asked on Wednesday whether Ukraine could participate in the joint investigation, Polish President Andrzej Duda told reporters that “the proceedings are being conducted by Polish and American experts, and if someone is allowed to participate in these proceedings, both parties will they must agree. “
