Ukraine Missile ?
Good morning,
The idea Russia fired a missile into Poland Tuesday, rattled NATO countries because it meant retaliatory action would have to be taken pitting NATO directly against Russia with all of the spiralling complications.
Poland locked down the site of the missile impact point, and kept reporters far away, with several noting they couldn’t get any where near the crater where 2 Poles had been killed.
It seems odd how hard Poland worked to protect that area, but of course it was highly sensitive because NATO had to investigate what really happened? Not much to see there really except a hole and some missile fragments.
I watched the news conference by NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg yesterday where he announced it was an accident, claiming a Ukrainian S-300 ground to air missile, had gone off course and slammed into Poland.
Polish president, Andrzej Duda, said there is no evidence to suggest the missile was an intentional attack or was launched by Russia, but was probably fired as part of Ukraine’s air defences and “unfortunately fell on Polish territory”.
Stoltenberg, confirmed that initial analysis suggested the incident was “likely caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile fired to defend Ukrainian territory” against Russian cruise missile attacks.
“Let me be clear: this is not Ukraine’s fault, he added. “Russia bears the ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blamed Ukraine and Poland for not immediately announcing it was a Ukrainian fired S-300 and drew no connection between the fact Ukraine had fired missiles to intercept almost 100 rockets fired into Ukraine by Russia. "It’s all alot of “Russophobia” claimed Peskov, which is what was claimed by Russia when they were being accused of planning to invade Ukraine in February.
But it seems like a major escalation of the war in Europe was narrowly avoided, and NATO members were breathing a deep sigh of relief along with America tying it all up with a bow with Stoltenberg’s news conference.
But late yesterday Ukrainian President Zelensky stunned many people by saying “I have no doubt this was not our missile” based on reports he got from his own military, an military he noted he trusts.
Ukraine has demanded to be on the investigation team now looking at that crater in Poland.
Why would NATO say it wasn’t a Russian missile if in fact it was? Well I can only wonder, but it allows America and NATO to ignore the incident and minimize their reaction.
Stoltenberg dodged questions about what was found on the ground, signs of impact with a Russian missile? Did the S-300 actually hit a Russian rocket before landing in Poland? Was it a missile warhead or fragments? What was the trajectory of the missile as if flew from where?
And most importantly was this a failure of NATO defences? It’s a key question because there may be more stray missiles heading for NATO countries and we may find ourselves back in this situation very soon.
Stoltenberg said no, not a failure because Russian cruise missiles and other missiles have certain characteristics of an attack, unlike the S-300 ground to air missile. “It doesn’t say anything about our ability to defend NATO territory” he claimed.
The NATO Chief went to great pains to discuss how there are many more ships and anti-missile platforms on land, that have been moved into Poland and other allied countries since Russia began this war.
But Stoltenberg frankly looked uncomfortable yesterday with his messaging. But that’s only my impression after watching thousands of these after incident briefings.
And he held the door open to a different conclusion. I wonder why?
“We have full confidence in Poland’s investigation of this matter, so we won’t get ahead of their work”
“Were still gathering information but see nothing that contradicts President Duda’s finding it was an air defence missile”
“Whatever the conclusion, Russia is ultimately responsible and Ukraine has a right to defend itself”
Ukraine’s Yuriy Sak, an advisor to Ukraine’s defence minister said that Kyiv welcomed a thorough investigation of the incident, but said the issue was “very sensitive.”
That’s an understatement considering this incident could have brought us to the brink of World War III. And what would NATO have done in response to a missile fired by Russia into Poland?
Have a good day everyone.
Dana Lewis