Biden disputes Zelenskyy's claim that the missile that hit Poland was not Ukrainian: 'That's not the evidence'

Joe Biden answers a question about the conflict in Ukraine and the missile that crashed in Poland as he arrives at the White House from the G20 and ASEAN summits on Thursday.

REUTERS/Jim Bourg

• Biden contradicted Zelenskyy's claim that the missile that hit Poland was not Ukrainian.
• "That's not the evidence," Biden said in response to Zelenskyy's remarks.
• Poland and NATO also say the missile was likely a Ukrainian defense missile that accidentally hit Poland.

President Joe Biden said that the Ukrainian president's insistence that the missile that killed two people in NATO member state Poland was not Ukrainian was not backed up by the available evidence.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters on Wednesday that: "I have no doubt that it was not our rocket," according to the Ukrainian Interfax news agency.

But Biden refuted this on Thursday. Asked by reporters about Zelenskyy's comments, Biden responded by saying: "That's not the evidence," according to Sky News.

The US, Poland, and NATO have all said that the missile that killed two people in Poland on Tuesday appeared to have come from Ukraine, though they noted investigations are ongoing. 

A map showing the location of the blast site in relation to the Poland-Ukraine border.

Google Maps/Insider

Poland and NATO said that the missile likely came from Ukraine's air defense system, as it tried to intercept a barrage of missiles Russia fired at Ukraine on Tuesday. The barrage was "likely the largest number of strikes that Russia has conducted in a single day since the first week of the invasion," according to the UK's Ministry of Defence.

Allies of Ukraine, like the UK and Canada, have said that the incident was still ultimately Russia's fault, by forcing Ukraine to defend itself.

"Let me clear. This is not Ukraine's fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine," NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.

Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Ukraine wanted to establish the facts, and asked for its specialists to join the investigation into the blast.

Jakub Kumoch, the top foreign policy advisor to Poland's president, told Polish TV on Wednesday that Ukrainian investigators would likely be given access to the blast site, Reuters reported.

A view shows damages after an explosion in Przewodow, a village in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, in this image obtained from social media by Reuters released on November 15, 2022.

REUTERS

Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials immediately blamed Russia after the missile fell, dismissing suggestions that the missile was Ukrainian.

Even so, Ukraine's Ambassador to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya, said on Wednesday that Ukraine was ready to cooperate with an investigation, that it wanted to establish the facts, and that it "expresses its solidarity with brotherly Polish people."

Ukraine's defense ministry was also restrained when commenting to CNBC on Wednesday.

Yuriy Sak, an advisor to Ukraine's defense minister, said it was a "very sensitive" issue and noted that world leaders were being deliberately cautious: "It is too early to give any definitive answers and it's very dangerous to jump to any conclusions," he said.

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