Reports in Polish media that two Russian missiles landed on Polish territory and killed two people on Tuesday shocked the world because it could mean that NATO will get involved in the war in Ukraine. So far, however, the news has not been officially confirmed by the Polish authorities, neither by NATO nor by the United States.
According to Polish media, two alleged Russian rockets fell in the town of Przewodow, which is 10 km from the border crossing between Poland and Ukraine, killing two people. On Tuesday, Russia bombed cities and energy plants in Ukraine, including Lviv, a city in the western part of the country close to Poland. There is also a version that they could be Ukrainian air defense missiles.
Polish authorities have not yet confirmed the media reports. Polish government spokesman Piotr Mueller said only that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had called an emergency meeting of the National Security and Defense Committee, without specifying the topic of the emergency meeting.
According to the North Atlantic Treaty, aggression against a NATO member state like Poland activates Article 5 and activates the collective defense system. In this case, however, it is more of a war-related incident.
“NATO is closely monitoring reports that missiles or shells have fallen on the territory of the member state of Poland and is in close coordination with the Polish authorities,” said the Alliance.
Russia has denied involvement, with its Defense Ministry stating as much “there were no attacks on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border”.
However, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who delivered his evening address to the nation, there is no doubt that Russian missiles have hit Poland. According to him it is “very significant exhalation” and we must act. “Missile attack on NATO territory… This is a Russian missile attack on collective security! This is a very significant escalation. We must act,” called Zelensky.
Meanwhile, Mariusz Gierszewski, the reporter for Polish radio station ZET who initially wrote that erroneous Russian missiles had hit Poland, tweeted an update that debris from a downed missile was likely to hit eastern Poland.
“My sources in the intelligence say that what hit Pzhevodov was most likely the remnant of a missile shot down by the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Gierszewski later wrote, as quoted by the Guardian.
US Department of Defense spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said the US is “I am aware of press reports that two Russian missiles have hit a site in Poland near the Ukrainian border”, but they currently have no information to confirm these reports, CNN reported. The same was announced by the White House and the US National Security Council.
EU Council President Charles Michel also issued a cautious statement. He said he was “shocked” of reports that rockets or shells had fallen in Poland, killing two people, but he made no assumptions about the origin of the rockets.
Before that, the Estonian foreign minister was the first in the international community to comment on Polish media reports on Twitter, expressing his country’s readiness to defend every inch of NATO territory. The defense minister of Latvia also expressed solidarity.
The UK said so “maintain a close relationship” with the Allies in relation to messages. “We are investigating these reports and are in close contact with allies,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Germany also said it was monitoring the situation.
