NATO has convened an emergency meeting of allied ambassadors to discuss the incident in Poland where two people were killed in the Ukraine border town of Przewodów in an explosion attributed by the media to missile strikes.
«The secretary general will chair an emergency meeting of NATO ambassadors on Wednesday morning to discuss this tragic accident,» NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told Europa Press.
It remains to be seen whether Poland will finally invoke Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty to trigger consultations within NATO following the explosion, although de facto Stoltenberg’s call will involve close contacts between allies and consideration of a joint response to the incident.
Polish President Andzrej Duda has been in contact with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and U.S. President Joe Biden to discuss the case. Warsaw has said it will study the current conditions and whether the premises for initiating the procedures for triggering Article 4 consultations are in place.
For the time being the Pentagon has indicated that it does not have sufficient information to corroborate that two Russian missiles have hit Polish territory, while Stoltenberg has referred to the episode as «an explosion» and asked to clarify the incident.
Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that NATO allies will hold consultations when one of the parties considers that its territorial integrity, political independence or security of the allies is threatened.
The forum for consultations is the North Atlantic Council, which is itself the main decision-making body within NATO. Any member of the organization can formally invoke Article 4, which would be the prelude to any joint decision or action on behalf of NATO.
The last time it was applied was after the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, when Estonia, in coordination with Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, asked to open this process to respond to the situation in the neighboring country.
At least two people have died in the Polish town of Przewodow, in Lublin province, near the Ukrainian border, after the possible impact of two stray rockets, local radio station Radio ZET has advanced.
According to unofficial information from the station itself, the missiles could have hit agricultural machinery in Przewodow. Agents of the Police, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Polish Army are already on the scene.
The spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense, Pat Ryder, has informed that, for the moment, Washington has no information linking Russia to the impact of these missiles, according to CNN.
This would be the first direct hit on a member country of the Atlantic Alliance since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine at the end of February. During the NATO summit in Madrid, member states reaffirmed their «unwavering» commitment to the collective defense of all NATO territories.
The incident comes on a day when Russia has launched a new wave of attacks on the western territory of Ukraine. Kiev, Lviv and many other cities have been the scene of Russian offensives, which have mainly targeted energy infrastructures.
Earlier, Marcin Lebiedowicz, spokesman for the Hrubieszow Fire Brigade, some 35 kilometers north of Przewodow, had confirmed that the town had been the scene of explosions, the causes of which are still unknown.
«We received a notification of an explosion in the drying yard. In fact, as soon as we arrived, we confirmed that something like that happened. Two people died at the scene. At the moment we are securing the scene and illuminating the area of the action,» he told Radio Lublin.
In the context of this incident, the Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, has convened an extraordinary meeting of the National Security and Defense Committee of the Council of Ministers, according to the government spokesman, Piotr Muller, on Twitter.
Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder said Tuesday that he does not have enough information to confirm that two Russian missiles have hit Polish territory, after local media reported the death of two Polish citizens in the border town of Przewodow, a few kilometers from Ukraine.
«We have no information right now to corroborate that there was a missile attack. We are investigating it,» the Pentagon spokesman said at a press conference, recalling that the United States has «a wide variety of means to verify the information» and will report the situation if it is confirmed.
Ryder has avoided answering reporters if this situation could lead to invoking NATO’s mutual defense clause. «I am not going to speculate on the potential situations. I’m just managing the facts, so let’s get the facts and then we’ll act from there,» the U.S. Defense Department spokesman stressed.
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia on Tuesday took aim at Russia for the missile strike in Poland that left two dead in the border town of Przewodow, just a few kilometers from Ukraine, and said that NATO territory must be defended from external attacks.
In a message on social networks, Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks accused the «criminal Russian regime» of having fired missiles not only at civilians, but also at «NATO territory in Poland».
Pabriks has conveyed to Poland Latvia’s full support for this event, a position also adopted by the other two Baltic countries: Estonia and Lithuania.
Thus, the President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nauseda, has used the same channel to stress that «every inch of NATO territory must be defended» and has confirmed that he is in talks with the Polish authorities.
For its part, the Estonian Foreign Ministry has pointed out that the news from Poland is «the most worrying», while confirming that it is in talks both with the Polish authorities and with those of other allied states.
«Estonia is ready to defend every inch of NATO territory. We stand in full solidarity with our close ally Poland» the foreign ministry said on its official Twitter profile.
Polish media reported Tuesday the death of two people in Przewodow, Lublin province, after the possible impact of two stray rockets.
The incident comes on a day when Russia has launched a new wave of attacks on the western territory of Ukraine. Kiev, Lviv and many other cities have been the scene of Russian offensives, mainly targeting energy infrastructures.
Poland is consulting with NATO and European Union partners following the impact of missiles on its territory that reportedly killed two Polish citizens in the border town of Przewodow, a few kilometers from Ukraine.
Diplomatic sources confirm to Europa Press that there are contacts at all levels, i.e. with both EU partners and NATO allies, about the incident recorded on Tuesday. «It is crucial to verify the incident very carefully» they pointed out.
For its part, the Estonian Foreign Ministry has noted that the situation is of «utmost concern» and stressed that there are consultations at the moment with Warsaw and other allies. «Estonia is ready to defend every inch of NATO territory, we stand in solidarity with Poland,» it said.
Polish media have reported the death of two people in Przewodow, in the province of Lublin, after the possible impact of two stray rockets.
The incident comes on a day when Russia has launched a new wave of attacks on the western territory of Ukraine. Kiev, Lviv and many other cities have been the scene of Russian offensives, mainly targeting energy infrastructures.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has branded as «deliberate provocation» accusations of its involvement in the missile strike in the Polish town of Przewodow, just a few kilometers from Ukraine.
«Statements by Polish media and officials about the impact of Russian missiles in the Przewodow area is a deliberate provocation» the Russian Defense Ministry has denounced.
At least two people have died in the Polish town of Przewodow, in Lublin province, near the Ukrainian border, after the possible impact of two stray rockets, local radio station Radio ZET has advanced.
According to unofficial information from the station itself, the missiles could have hit agricultural machinery in Przewodow. Agents of the Police, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Polish Army are already on the scene.
The spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense, Pat Ryder, has informed that, for the moment, Washington has no information linking Russia to the impact of these missiles.
This would be the first direct hit on a member country of the Atlantic Alliance since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine at the end of February. During the NATO summit in Madrid, member states reaffirmed their “unwavering” commitment to the collective defense of all NATO territories.
The incident comes on a day when Russia has launched a new wave of attacks on the western territory of Ukraine. Kiev, Lviv and many other cities have been the scene of Russian offensives, which have mainly targeted energy infrastructures.
Earlier, Marcin Lebiedowicz, spokesman for the Hrubieszow Fire Brigade, some 35 kilometers north of Przewodow, had confirmed that the town had been the scene of explosions, the causes of which are still unknown.
“We received a notification of an explosion in the drying yard. In fact, as soon as we arrived, we confirmed that something like that happened. Two people died at the scene. At the moment we are securing the scene and illuminating the area of the action,” he told Radio Lublin.
In the context of this incident, the Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, has convened an extraordinary meeting of the National Security and Defense Committee of the Council of Ministers, according to the government spokesman, Piotr Muller, on Twitter.
Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan confirmed the shelling of the Polish territories of Russia. She wrote about it in Telegram. Simonyan noted that in Poland, allegedly, the Belgorod region also appeared, in which explosions are heard.
Prime Minister Mateusz Marowiecki has convened the National Security and Defense Council to consider this issue. De facto, Poland has received casus belli and, in principle, can apply to the mutual assistance mechanism under Art. 5 of the NATO Charter. How it will actually be – we will soon see, but in any case, this incident will not pass without a trace for the rod. Now this is a different reality.
These are the contexts of today’s shelling. If Prutin were smarter or not so primitive, he would never have given such contexts for this action, but the genie has already flown out of the bottle and you can’t return it back. On November 15, Prutin will remember until his death. And most likely, today he accelerated its offensive many times over. But that’s another story.
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