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Joe Biden says US will support Poland's investigation into explosion

News Agencies 16 November 2022, 10:12 IST

Joe Biden says US will support Poland's investigation into explosion

US President Joe Biden has said that Washington will support Poland's investigation into the explosion that took place near the Poland-Ukrainian border.

Biden made the remarks after an "emergency meeting" convened by Biden of NATO and G7 leaders on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia.

The US President said that he briefed leaders about his conversation with Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda and North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The leaders held an emergency meeting after an explosion took place near the Poland-Ukraine border that killed two people, CNN reported.

NATO and G7 leaders also released a statement after the emergency meeting in which they condemned Russia's "barbaric missile attacks" on Ukraine.

Addressing reporters after the meeting, Biden said that the leaders agreed to support Poland's investigation and asserted that he will "make sure" to find out what exactly happened. He said that they will determine the next step after they conduct the investigation and stressed that there was "total unanimity" among the leaders in the meeting.

"We agreed to support Poland's investigation into the explosion in rural Poland near the Ukrainian border, and I'm going to make sure we figure out exactly what happened," Biden told reporters.

"Then we're going to collectively determine our next step as we investigate and proceed. There was total unanimity among folks at the table," he added.

When asked if Russia is involved in attacks that took place in Poland, Biden said, "There is preliminary information that contests that. I don't want to say that until we completely investigate. But it is unlikely in the lines of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia, but we will see." He further stated that the leaders of G7 and NATO nations talked about Russia's attacks in Ukraine.

Biden reaffirmed US support for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. In his remarks, US President said, "There were scores and scores of missile attacks in western Ukraine. We support Ukraine fully at this moment, as we have since the start. We will do whatever it takes to give them the capacity to defend themselves."

Earlier on November 14, US President held a telephonic conversation with his Polish counterpart and expressed condolences over the loss of life in Eastern Poland. Duda briefed Biden about the ongoing assessment of the explosion that took place near the border with Ukraine.

Biden affirmed US support and assistance for Poland's investigation and "ironclad" commitment to NATO, according to the readout released by the White House. The two leaders agreed to remain in contact to determine the appropriate steps as the investigation is being carried out.

The White House broadcast a brief video clip of Biden at a table with several world leaders including his counterparts from France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, among a few others.

In earlier remarks, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that Poland does not have any conclusive evidence at the moment as to who launched the missiles, but added that they were most likely Russian-made.

He added that there is no indication that there will be a similar repeat of the incident.

NATO ally Poland said early on Wednesday that a Russian-made missile fell in in the Lubelskie province in the eastern part of the country bordering Ukraine, killing two people in a blast.

The Russian Defence Ministry dismissed reports, saying its military has performed no strikes targeting the Ukrainian-Polish border zone.

"Polish mass media and officials commit deliberate provocation to escalate situation with their statement on alleged impact of 'Russian' rockets at

Przewodow," the Russian ministry was quoted as saying by TASS news agency. "Russian firepower has launched no strikes at the area between the Ukrainian-Polish border."

The Polish government has summoned the Russian ambassador to the country, claiming that a Russian-made missile fell in the country, killing two citizens.

In a statement, Polish foreign ministry spokesperson Lukasz Jasina has it has demanded "immediate detailed explanations" on the incident.

(ANI)

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