Polish Prosecutor's Office Reportedly Opposes Kiev Participation in Missile Explosion Probe

WARSAW (Sputnik) - The Polish prosecutor's office refused to involve Ukraine in the investigation into the missiles that landed in Poland, local media reported on Monday.

"There is no such legal possibility, and it would contradict the procedures, not to mention the interests of the investigation, during which all possible scenarios are being studied, including the one that an air defense missile of Ukraine could have fallen," a source familiar with the investigation said, as quoted by Polish press.

On November 15, two missiles fell on Polish territory on the border with Ukraine, killing two people. Initially, Warsaw said that the missiles were Russian-made but later added that there was a high probability that they were shot by Ukrainian air defense forces working to intercept incoming Russian missiles. The Russian Defense Ministry said no strikes had been carried out on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish border.

Aerial view taken on November 17, 2022 shows the site where a missile strike killed two men in the eastern Poland village of Przewodow, near the border with Ukraine on November 15, 2022.

© AFP 2023 / WOJTEK RADWANSKI

On November 17, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that specialists from Ukraine could monitor the ongoing investigation into the missile incident in Poland without taking part in it, as their participation would require compliance with relevant international regulations. At the same time, Jakub Kumoch, the head of the International Policy Bureau at Poland's Presidential Office, said Ukrainian experts were allowed to visit the missile crash site on the territory of Poland.

Ukraine initially insisted the missile was fired by Russia and demanded access to the probe. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a Bloomberg New Economy Forum on November 17 said he does not know "exactly what happened this time, 100%."