President Joe Biden of the United States arrives for an official welcome ceremony to mark the start of the G20 Summit on November 15, 2022 in Nusa Dua, Indonesia.
Leon Neal | Swimming Pool | via Reuters
US President Joe Biden said it was unlikely that the missile that hit Poland, which killed two people, was fired from Russia, but the US and its allies agreed to support the country’s investigation.
“I’m going to make sure we find out exactly what happened,” Biden said.
Early Wednesday morning, Polish officials said a “Russian-made missile” had landed in the country, killing two people. It will mark the first time since Russia’s war in Ukraine began in February of this year that a Russian missile has hit NATO territory.
“There is preliminary information to disprove that,” Biden said when asked if the missile was fired from Russia. “I don’t want to say until we fully investigate. As for the trajectory, it’s unlikely it was fired from Russia, but we’ll see.”
Biden did not address whether the missile could have been fired by Russia from Ukraine or elsewhere.
Biden is speaking in Bali, Indonesia, where he is attending the Group of 20 Summit, a meeting of the world’s largest economies.
Biden has repeatedly said that any attack on NATO soil would be considered an attack on all members of the alliance. He spoke with Polish President Andrzej Duda after the blast and expressed his full support, according to the White House. The White House said he spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a private call.
Before speaking to reporters, Biden convened a meeting of “like-minded leaders” about the situation. Participants include G-7 members and allies: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and European Council President Charles Michel.
“We will jointly determine the next step as we investigate and proceed,” Biden said. “There was complete unanimity among the people at the table.”
Biden said the group also discussed recent Russian missile attacks in Ukraine, calling the country’s aggression “unconscionable”.
“At a time when the world has gathered at the G-20 to urge de-escalation, Russia continues to escalate in Ukraine,” Biden said. “While we were meeting, there were a lot of missile attacks in western Ukraine. We fully support Ukraine in this moment; we have been since the beginning of the conflict.”
