World

Biden Directly Disputes Zelenskyy’s Claim About Missile In Poland

SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

Diana Glebova White House Correspondent
Font Size:

President Joe Biden denied on Thursday that the missile that killed two in Poland was not Ukrainian, disputing a claim made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy claimed Wednesday on Ukrainian TV that his top military commanders had informed him the missile was not Ukrainian, saying he has “no doubt” that “it was not our missile and not our missile strike,” according to Financial Times reporter Christopher Miller.

Biden was pressed about the validity of Zelenskyy’s claim as he was walking into the White House across the South Lawn at 12:30 a.m.

“That’s not the evidence,” Biden said.

Zelenskyy had also called for “action” on Tuesday after the explosion, claiming that Russian missiles had hit Poland mere miles away from the Ukrainian border.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan quickly called Zelenskyy’s office after those remarks, urging the Ukrainian president to be more careful with what he says, CNN reported, citing sources familiar.

World leaders conducted an emergency meeting in the hours after the explosion Tuesday, deliberating about the evidence and deciding how to react to a NATO country being hit by a missile for the first time in the Russia-Ukraine war. Some Ukrainian officials initially called for the need to invoke Article 5, which states that NATO allies must respond when one member state is attacked. (RELATED: Biden Holds Emergency Meeting After Missile Reportedly Strikes Poland)

After investigation, Polish President Andrzej Duda said Tuesday the missile was likely the result of a Ukrainian air defense strike targeting incoming Russian attacks. A Wednesday NATO statement backed Duda’s statement, saying the explosion was likely caused by a “Ukrainian air defense missile,” but that it’s ultimately Russia’s fault.

“Our preliminary analysis suggests that the incident was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile fired to defend Ukrainian territory against Russian cruise missile attacks. But let me clear: this is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in the statement.

Biden said Wednesday that the missile “unlikely” came from Russia based on “preliminary information.”

“I don’t want to say that until we completely investigate it. But it is unlikely…that it was fired from Russia,” Biden said while speaking from Bali, Indonesia.

A statement from the National Security Council (NSC) on Wednesday said they have seen “nothing” that contradicts Duda’s assessment that the missile was likely Ukrainian, but that the responsible party is Russia.

“Whatever the final conclusions may be, it is clear that the party ultimately responsible for this tragic incident is Russia, which launched a barrage of missiles on Ukraine specifically intended to target civilian infrastructure,” the NSC statement said. “Ukraine had — and has — every right to defend itself.”

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel