President Joe Biden of the United States arrives at the formal welcome ceremony to mark the beginning of the G20 Summit on November 15, 2022 in Nusa Dua, Indonesia.
Leon Neal | Pool | via Reuters
U.S. President Joe Biden said it is unlikely that the missile that hit Poland and killed two people was fired from Russia, but the United States and allies unanimously agreed to support the country’s investigation.
“I’m going to make sure we figure out exactly what happened,” Biden said.
Early Wednesday morning, Polish officials said a “Russian-made missile” landed on its soil, killing two people. It would mark the first time since Russia’s war in Ukraine began in February of this year that a Russian projectile hit NATO territory.
“There is preliminary information that contests that,” Biden said when asked if the missile was fired from Russia. “I don’t want to say until we completely investigate. It is unlikely in the lines of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia, but we’ll see.”
Biden made his comments from Bali, Indonesia where he is attending the Group of 20 summit, a meeting of the world’s largest economies.
Biden has repeatedly said any attack on NATO soil will be considered an attack on all of the alliance members. He spoke with Polish President Andrzej Duda after the explosion offering his full support, according to the White House. He spokes with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a separate call, the White House said.
Before speaking to reporters, Biden convened a meeting of “like-minded leaders” on the situation. Participants included 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, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Spainish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and European Council President Charles Michel.
“We’re going to collectively determine our next step as we investigate and proceed,” Biden said. “There was total unanimity among folks at the table.”
Biden said the group also discussed Russia’s recent missile attacks in Ukraine, saying the country’s aggression has been “unconscionable.”
“The moment when the world came together at the G-20 to urge de-escalation, Russia continues to escalate in Ukraine,” Biden said. “While we were meeting there were scores and scores of missile attacks in western Ukraine. We support Ukraine fully in this moment; we have since the start of the conflict.”
