Russia has caused a “diversion” for the West by raising the issue of two missiles in Poland on the same day it launched 85 cruise missiles on Ukraine, an expert has said. On Tuesday, it was reported that Poland was hit by two Russia-produced missiles that killed two people. However, later Poland President and US President Joe Biden held back from linking the attack with the Kremlin.
Ukraine expert Igor Sushko tweeted: “Kremlin is full of glee to see people in the West tearing each other apart bickering over whether it was a Russian missile or Ukrainian air-defence missile that killed two civilians in a NATO country on the day Russia launched 85 cruise missiles.
“It’s a diversion – Russia caused it.”
He further tweeted: “Noticing disagreement of whether it was a Russian missile or a Ukrainian air-defense missile that hit Polish land.
“Whichever it is, it’s irrelevant – Putin’s war has crossed the border into a NATO country, killing innocent civilians. Putin caused it. Putin attacked NATO. PERIOD.”
Polish officials said the “Russian-made missile” landed in Przewodow, on the Ukrainian border.
Early reports had suggested Russia was to blame for the blast. Moscow denied the allegations.
Speaking from the G20 Summit in Bali, Mr Biden said “preliminary information” contested the reports.
The US President was speaking early on Wednesday morning, after several world leaders gathered on the side lines of the summit at an “emergency roundtable” to discuss the blast.
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But Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said any claim that Ukraine was responsible was a Russian “conspiracy theory”, and that anyone amplifying the message was spreading “Russian propaganda”.
Polish President Andrzej Duda told reporters that it remained unclear how the blast had occurred, and said investigators were evaluating all possibilities.
He said: “We do not have any conclusive evidence at the moment as to who launched this missile … it was most likely a Russian-made missile, but this is all still under investigation at the moment.”
In his nightly address, the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said the reported strikes in Poland offered proof that “terror is not limited by our state borders.”
He said: “We need to put the terrorist in its place. The longer Russia feels impunity, the more threats there will be for everyone within the reach of Russian missiles.”
Russia fired at least 85 missiles, most of them aimed at the country’s power facilities, and blacked out many cities, he said.