US NSA Sullivan asked Zelenskyy for caution regarding Poland missile incident
Jake Sullivan (Photo:REUTERS/Gleb Garanich)
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and asked him to be more careful when commenting on the situation around the deadly Nov. 15 missile incident in Poland, CNN reported on Nov. 17, citing unnamed sources.
According to the report, Sullivan called Zelenskyy after the president claimed that “Russian missiles have struck Poland,” in a “major escalation.” Sullivan urged the Ukrainian leader and his officials to be “more careful” in their comments on the incident.
CNN’s sources further claimed Zelenskyy did not speak with U.S. President Joe Biden on the day of the incident, despite having made such a request. Besides Sullivan, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on the matter with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, similarly urging caution.
As he was attending the G-20 Summit in Indonesia, Biden was reportedly woken up in the middle of the night, hours after the incident. By 05:30 a.m., U.S. and Polish leaders were in contact, discussing their joint investigation of the missile’s crash.
Several hours later, Biden told journalists it was unlikely the missile came from Russia.
On Nov. 15, during a massive Russian air attack on the civilian infrastructure of Ukraine, a missile fell onto the village of Przewodów in the Lublin district of Poland, killing two people.
After that, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki convened an urgent meeting of the National Security and Defense Affairs committee.
Polish President Andrzej Duda later said the missile could have been fired by Ukrainian air defenses as they were intercepting incoming Russian cruise missiles inbound at targets near Poland’s border.
The White House said that whatever conclusion the investigation reaches, the ultimate responsibility for the incident lies with Moscow, as its missile strikes against Ukraine were the reason for Kyiv launching anti-air missiles in the first place.
By Nov. 17, Ukrainian experts were allowed to examine the crash site in Przewodów.
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