The Ukrainian president does not budge and maintains his initial version, affirming that the missile which killed two people, Tuesday, November 15, in a Polish village near the border with Ukraine was “Russian”. He also claimed to have received no evidence from the West of the hypothesis of a Ukrainian projectile fired to shoot down Russian cruise missiles.
The grave incident has raised fears that NATO will be drawn into the conflict and a major escalation in the war in Ukraine, as Poland is protected by a collective defense commitment of the Atlantic Alliance.
- At odds with Washington and NATO, Zelensky maintains that the missile was “Russian”
kyiv reaffirmed on Wednesday that the missile fired in a Polish village near the border with Ukraine was “Russian”, contradicting NATO and Washington which rather accredit the thesis of a Ukrainian defense missile. “I have no doubt that this missile was not ours,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on television on Wednesday evening, stressing that kyiv wanted to be part of an international investigation group into this incident.
“I believe it was a Russian missile, in accordance with the report of the Ukrainian military”, he added while NATO officials estimated that it was probably a missile from the Ukrainian system of anti-aircraft defense. He then demanded access for Ukrainian experts to “all data” from Westerners and to the site of the explosion of the missile that fell in Poland. “We want to establish all the details, every fact.”
- Missile in Poland: Hungary criticizes Zelensky’s remarks
The Hungarian government said on Wednesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was setting “a bad example” by claiming that the missile that killed two people in a Polish village near the border with Ukraine was Russian. “In such a situation, the leaders speak responsibly,” Gergely Gulyas, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, told reporters.
But “the Ukrainian president, by immediately accusing the Russians, was wrong, it is a bad example”, he added, welcoming on the contrary the cautious attitude of Poland and the United States. Warsaw judged “highly probable” that it was a Ukrainian anti-aircraft projectile, evoking “an unfortunate accident”, a hypothesis accredited by NATO and the White House.
- The shadow of Ukraine hangs over the summit of Apec
The leaders of the countries of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum are meeting in Bangkok on Thursday and Friday for a summit mainly devoted to the fight against pandemics and the global upheavals triggered by the war in Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman will join the leaders of the 21 Apec members as guests.
The meeting in Thailand follows a G20 summit in Bali overshadowed by the fall of a missile in Poland, an incident which has reinforced fears of an escalation of the conflict against which the leaders of the twenty most developed economies.
US President Joe Biden held urgent talks with G7 and NATO allies on the sidelines of the G20 on Wednesday. Chinese head of state Xi Jinping is expected in Bangkok on Thursday, a few days after a historic face-to-face with Joe Biden in Bali.
- The Pentagon denounces Russia’s “terror campaign” in Ukraine
Russia has “failed” on all fronts in its war against Ukraine and has engaged in a “campaign of terror” targeting the civilian population, US Chief of Staff General Mark Milley said on Wednesday. , denouncing “war crimes”. “Deliberately targeting the civilian power grid, causing excessive collateral damage and unnecessary suffering to the civilian population, is a war crime,” General Milley told a press conference alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. .
The two officials were speaking at the end of a meeting in Washington of the contact group on Ukraine bringing together their Ukrainian counterparts and allied countries. Russia carried out massive strikes on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure across the country on Tuesday, including near the Polish border, which left millions of homes without power, according to kyiv. The top US official estimated that about “a quarter” of Ukraine’s population was without power due to this barrage of missiles, at least “about 60, maybe as many as 90 or 100”, he said speaking of the “biggest wave of missiles” fired at Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.
- Zelensky calls on China to ‘not choose Russia’s side’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday called on China “not to choose the side of Russia” in Moscow’s war against Ukraine. “It’s important for us that China does not choose Russia’s side,” Volodymyr Zelensky told Ukrainian TV, as Beijing refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rejected Western sanctions against Moscow .
- Explosions reported in Crimea
Explosions are reported in the occupied town of Dzhankoi in Crimea. According to Ukrainian media, a Russian airfield was hit. Ukrinform – the national news agency in Ukraine – said the explosions were heard late Wednesday evening, citing local Telegram channels.