Rishi Sunak vows to 'support our allies' in Poland after missile strike kills two
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the UK would "support our allies" as Joe Biden pledged US support for Poland but stated it was "unlikely" Russia fired a missile that killed two people in the eastern European country.
The US President's assessment appears to have been backed up by preliminary assessments from US intelligence suggesting the missile was fired by Ukrainian forces at an incoming Russian one.
However, the Prime Minister's official spokesperson declined to comment on reports that the missile that hit Poland was fired by Ukrainian forces at an incoming Russian missile, saying that the facts needed to be established first.
"Certainly the incident was looked at and discussed at the G7, I think, on all sides there's agreement there needs further investigation before any conclusions are drawn.
"It's important to look at the facts and establish the facts in the first instance before coming to any conclusions.
"None of that changes what we know has happened which is a substantial missile attack into Ukraine from Russia targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.
"It's a barbaric attack, particularly coming at a time when world leaders are meeting shows the continued contempt Putin shows towards international order."
The Polish Foreign Ministry late on Tuesday said that a Russian-made missile fell in eastern Poland and killed two people.
The ministry said foreign minister Zbigniew Rau summoned the Russian ambassador and "demanded immediate detailed explanations".
The Prime Minister had joined an emergency morning meeting on the incident at the G20 summit in Bali.
In an official read-out of the meeting, issued by the European Union, the leaders said they agreed to offer their "full support for and assistance with Poland's ongoing investigation", while reaffirming their "steadfast support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in the face of ongoing Russian aggression".
It comes as Mr Biden held a call with Polish President Andrzej Duda, in which the American "offered full US support for and assistance with Poland's investigation".
The UK Armed Forces already has a footing in Poland as part of NATO's enhanced forward presence and currently has around 900 British military personnel, including armoured vehicles and Challenger 2 tanks committed to this deployment.
The 2016 NATO Summit in Warsaw set the conditions for the establishment of an enhanced Forward Presence (EFP) in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to strengthen Euro-Atlantic security.
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