Investigations after rocket hit: Poland wants to involve Ukrainian experts

After the rocket hit in Poland, the government in Kyiv still doubts that it was a defensive missile. Now the Polish government has shown its willingness to involve Ukrainian experts in the investigation.

During the investigation into the rocket hit in the border area with Ukraine, the Polish government has signaled its willingness to grant Ukrainian specialists access to the investigation site. A team of Polish and American investigators is currently working there, said President Andrzej Duda’s foreign policy adviser, Jakub Kumoch, on TVN24. If both sides agree, “this access can be granted soon”. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj had previously called for experts from his country to be involved.

A rocket hit the Polish border area with Ukraine on Tuesday. Two people died as a result. So far, NATO and Poland have assumed that it was a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile used to defend against Russian military attacks. Ultimately, however, Moscow is responsible for the war of aggression against Ukraine.

“No one is accusing Ukraine of knowingly bombing Polish territory,” Kumoch said. There are many indications that one of the anti-aircraft missiles launched to launch a Russian missile missed its target and subsequently the self-destruct mechanism failed. This then led to an accident.

Rocket debris as evidence

When asked what evidence Poland had, Kumoch said it was the missile’s debris and the depth of the funnel it caused on impact. “The experts calculate the direction from which the rocket came, even the amount of fuel consumed, and therefore the area from which it could have been launched,” said the presidential adviser.

The Ukrainian government continues to assume that it was a Russian missile. Selenskyj referred to reports from the Ukrainian military. “We share the view that Russia bears full responsibility for rocket terror and its consequences in Ukraine, Poland and Moldova,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter. The Kremlin, in turn, said Russia had “nothing to do” with the matter.