President Andrzej Duda visited the village of Przewodów on Thursday (November 17), where a stray missile had killed two men on Tuesday. At a press briefing he said that no one wanted to do any harm to Poland, and that he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. "This is an extremely difficult situation for them, emotions run high and there's also huge stress," Duda said, adding that "in recent days, Ukraine has been under a mass missile attack carried out by Russia".
President Andrzej Duda visited the site of the fatal missile blast in the village of Przewodów on Thursday.
He then said at a press briefing that he had spoken with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. "I try to support Mr President Zelenskiy in all his efforts related to national defence, defence of Ukraine, also in this difficult situation. This is an extremely difficult situation for them, emotions are high and there's also huge stress," he said.
The president added that "in recent days, Ukraine has been under a mass missile attack carried out by Russia". "I guess it's understandable that there are emotions, including emotions of the president (Zelenskiy - edit.)" - he said.
Commenting on Zelenskiy's words that it was not a Ukrainian missile, Duda said that "it's like this that everyone wants to see their own evidence". He added that information he had announced on Wednesday had come from Polish investigators and services, in whose opinion the tragedy was "an absolutely unintentional accident". "It was not that the missile was fired at Poland, it cannot be treated as an attack on Poland," the president stressed, adding that "no one wanted to hram anyone in Poland".
"So, in a way, it's simply our common tragedy," Duda said and asked everyone to respect the privacy of the families of the victims.
"It is a very, very difficult time for the families, it is a difficult time for this village, for the whole local community."
The president was also asked about the possibility of Ukrainian investigators participating in the inquiry into the tragic incident in Przewodów, for which president Zelenskiy had asked.
"In order to talk about participation in the investigation, about cooperation in the inquiry, a specific requirements of international law and international agreements in that regard must be met," he explained.
"If guests from Ukraine want to see the investigative proceedings, then we may show said proceedings to them, just like they were shown to me," Duda said. "But when it comes to participation and access to documents, to information, then that requires concrete treaty basis, concrete basis in terms of international law and international agreements," he added.
On Wednesday (November 17), president Andrzej Duda said after a briefing at the National Security Bureau there was no evidence suggesting intentional attack on Poland or that the missile had been fired by Russia. He added it was very likely it had been a Ukrainian defence forces missile.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that there was no doubt it was not a Ukrainian missile or Ukrainian strike. He stressed he based his comment on reports filed by the Ukrainian military staff. Zelenskiy also said that, in his view, Ukraine should be taking part in the inquiry into the incident.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP