The leaders of the US and Poland are in crisis talks after two stray Russian rockets landed in Poland on Tuesday and killed two people..According to the Polish news outlet Radio Zet, two missiles launched from Russia hit grain dryers in the Polish town of Przewodów, near the border with Ukraine. According to the local fire brigade, two people were killed "on the spot.".Polish government spokesman Piotr Müller confirmed Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki convened the Committee of the Council of Ministers for National Security and Defense Affairs "as a matter of urgency." Müller also confirmed the country's armed forces are readying military units..NATO will hold an Emergency Meeting tomorrow to discuss whether to invoke Article 4. Under that article, members can bring any issue of concern to the table for discussion..Later in the afternoon, US President Joe Biden and Polish President Andrzej Sebastian Duda discussed the incident over the phone..Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand said she was in close contact with Poland and that the Canadian government is monitoring the situation closely..Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the incident was a "significant escalation" of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.."The longer Russia feels impunity, the more threats there will be to anyone within reach of Russian missiles," Zelenskyy said. "To fire missiles at NATO territory, this is a Russian missile attack on collective security. This is a very significant escalation. We must act.".Earlier in the day, Russian forces had bombarded Ukrainian cities with more than 100 rockets. Some analysts suggested the two missiles that landed in Poland may have been headed for Lviv, a Ukrainian city located approximately 100 km south of Przewodów..Russia's Defence Ministry has denied that Russian missiles hit Polish territory. They called the reports "a deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation.".It added that "no strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border were made by Russian means of destruction.".The stray rockets ignited concerns online that NATO's Article 5 could be invoked. Article 5 stipulated that an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all, meaning all other members of NATO could potentially be called to defend Poland against Russia. But each country has no obligation to respond militarily..Article 5 has only been invoked one time, when the United States was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. Ukraine applied to become a member of NATO since Russia invaded in early 2022, but security experts cited concerns doing so would bring the rest of NATO into direct conflict with Russia..Poland and Russia have had a frosty relationship throughout history, fighting in several wars against each other over the centuries. Relations between the two improved after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, when Poland gained full independence..But Poland-Russian relations cooled once again when Russia invaded Ukraine in February, 2022. Poland's prime minister warned Russian President Vladimir Putin planned to rebuild the Russian Empire and urged the Europe not to let that happen. After Poland imposed sanctions on Russia, the country responded by adding Poland to the list of "unfriendly countries."
The leaders of the US and Poland are in crisis talks after two stray Russian rockets landed in Poland on Tuesday and killed two people..According to the Polish news outlet Radio Zet, two missiles launched from Russia hit grain dryers in the Polish town of Przewodów, near the border with Ukraine. According to the local fire brigade, two people were killed "on the spot.".Polish government spokesman Piotr Müller confirmed Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki convened the Committee of the Council of Ministers for National Security and Defense Affairs "as a matter of urgency." Müller also confirmed the country's armed forces are readying military units..NATO will hold an Emergency Meeting tomorrow to discuss whether to invoke Article 4. Under that article, members can bring any issue of concern to the table for discussion..Later in the afternoon, US President Joe Biden and Polish President Andrzej Sebastian Duda discussed the incident over the phone..Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand said she was in close contact with Poland and that the Canadian government is monitoring the situation closely..Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the incident was a "significant escalation" of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.."The longer Russia feels impunity, the more threats there will be to anyone within reach of Russian missiles," Zelenskyy said. "To fire missiles at NATO territory, this is a Russian missile attack on collective security. This is a very significant escalation. We must act.".Earlier in the day, Russian forces had bombarded Ukrainian cities with more than 100 rockets. Some analysts suggested the two missiles that landed in Poland may have been headed for Lviv, a Ukrainian city located approximately 100 km south of Przewodów..Russia's Defence Ministry has denied that Russian missiles hit Polish territory. They called the reports "a deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation.".It added that "no strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border were made by Russian means of destruction.".The stray rockets ignited concerns online that NATO's Article 5 could be invoked. Article 5 stipulated that an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all, meaning all other members of NATO could potentially be called to defend Poland against Russia. But each country has no obligation to respond militarily..Article 5 has only been invoked one time, when the United States was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. Ukraine applied to become a member of NATO since Russia invaded in early 2022, but security experts cited concerns doing so would bring the rest of NATO into direct conflict with Russia..Poland and Russia have had a frosty relationship throughout history, fighting in several wars against each other over the centuries. Relations between the two improved after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, when Poland gained full independence..But Poland-Russian relations cooled once again when Russia invaded Ukraine in February, 2022. Poland's prime minister warned Russian President Vladimir Putin planned to rebuild the Russian Empire and urged the Europe not to let that happen. After Poland imposed sanctions on Russia, the country responded by adding Poland to the list of "unfriendly countries."
