A rocket hit the Polish border area with Ukraine on Tuesday, killing two people. The world first held its breath – and then chaos reigned. There were questions after questions: Was it a Russian missile that attacked the NATO country? Or is it a missile of the Ukrainian air defense system that was lost on Polish territory? These questions went unanswered for hours.
Then the statement of the US, NATO and Poland: the West assumes that the latter theory is correct; Ultimately, however, Moscow is responsible for the offensive war against Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (44) disagrees. “I think it was a Russian missile – based on my confidence in the military reports,” Zelensky said Wednesday. That leads to criticism.
Ukrainian lie damages confidence in NATO
“It’s getting ridiculous”: the reaction of an anonymous NATO official who spoke to the “Financial Times” is clear. “The Ukrainians are destroying our trust in them. No one is blaming Ukraine, and they are openly lying,” he says. And then his verdict: “It’s even more destructive than the missile.”
And the American president also objected. “That’s not the evidence,” said Joe Biden, 79, on Thursday when asked about the statements of his Ukrainian colleague. Hungary criticized the Ukrainian head of state’s statements as irresponsible. “The president of Ukraine was wrong when he immediately blamed the Russians. That is a bad example,” said Gergely Gulyas (41), chief of staff of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (59).
Henrik Larsen is a Senior Researcher in the Swiss and Euro-Atlantic Security Team at the Center for Security Studies (CSS), with a focus on NATO and transatlantic security. The expert explained to Blick: “If NATO’s preliminary assessment is correct that it was a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile, and if this could raise the suspicion that the Ukrainians are lying, then of course this would undermine the confidence that NATO allies have in Ukraine led by Zelensky.”
‘Zelensky knows how important the allies are’
Political and Eastern Europe expert Andreas Umland (55) is skeptical in an interview: “Either Selenski contradicts the facts and it was actually a Ukrainian defense missile, or he tells the truth – then NATO would be annoyed because they conflict would be involved.” must intervene.” Ulrich Schmid (56), Slavic student at the University of St. Gallen, also says: “NATO has a great interest in ensuring that no escalation takes place. NATO wants to avoid becoming a war party itself at all costs. ”
But Umland reassured: he does not expect a dispute between Ukraine and NATO. “Wars are characterized by foggy episodes – that happens.”