Poland blast: Zelensky convinced missile that killed two was not Ukrainian

The Ukrainian president said he has evidence from his military

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said he has “no doubts” that an explosion that killed two people in Poland was caused by a Russian missile.

He has urged Polish authorities to be included in the investigation into the fatal blast after president Andryzey Duda said the explosion near its border was an “unfortunate accident”.

“I have no doubt that it was not our missile,” Mr Zelensky said in a TV address to Ukrainian media.

He said he believed Tuesday’s explosion was caused by a Russian missile, adding that he based his conclusions on reports from Ukraine’s military which he “cannot but trust”.

Mr Zelensky said he believed Ukraine should already have been given access to the site of the explosion.

“Do we have the right to be in the investigation team? Of course,” he said.

Senior Ukrainian defence official Oleg Danilov said Kyiv has evidence of a “Russian trace” in the incident, without giving any details.

Poland said any Ukrainian access would have to be agreed to by both Warsaw and Washington.

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg agreed with Poland that the blast was probably caused by a stray missile fired by Ukraine’s air defence system.

A missile that hit a Polish village close to the Ukrainian border was probably fired by Ukrainian forces defending against a Russian missile onslaught, Poland’s president has said (Michal Dyjuk/AP/PA) (AP)

Nevertheless, the Nato chief said that Moscow was to blame for starting the war in the first place and launching scores of missiles on Tuesday that triggered Ukrainian defences.

“This is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine,” Mr Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.

Nato ambassadors held emergency talks to respond to Tuesday’s blast that killed two people at a grain facility in Poland near the Ukrainian border.

“From the information that we and our allies have, it was an S-300 rocket made in the Soviet Union, an old rocket and there is no evidence that it was launched by the Russian side,” Polish president Andrzej Duda said. “It is highly probable that it was fired by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defence.”

President Zelensky said Ukraine should be part of the investigation into the blast (Bel Trew / The Independent)

Earlier, US president Joe Biden said the trajectories suggested the missile was unlikely to have been unleashed from Russia.

The Ukrainian president also said it has not received an offer from Moscow to start peace talks after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this week that Ukraine was not interested in holding talks with Russia.

Mr Zelensky said on Wednesday: “They do not communicate with us.”

The president’s top adviser, Mykhailo Podoloyak, dismissed the notion of talks, saying: “Putin's Russia is a key threat to the global world. Ukraine is trying to restrain Russian outrages, stop the escalation and growth of the war.

“Do not look for 'compromises' between the killer-country [Russia] and the civilized world. This is the path to a global tragedy.”