POLAND (Fwrd Axis) — A Russian-made missile killed two Polish citizens on Tuesday near the border with Ukraine, the Polish government said.
Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau demanded an explanation and summoned the Russian ambassador.
“There was an explosion in Przewodów, as a result of which two of our compatriots lost their lives,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said. “My thoughts are with their families, with their loved ones.”
Zbigniew Rau added there was talk of triggering Article 4 of the NATO charter, which would allow Poland to call on other states for guidance in the event its territorial integrity or security has been threatened.
Polish President Andrzej Duda said there was no clear evidence it was Russia who fired the missile.
“We have no evidence as of yet who fired that missile,” Duda said. “It was a Russian-made rocket, but the investigation is ongoing.”
“We’ve seen these reports out of Poland and are working with the Polish government to gather more information,” the spokesperson for the National Security Council said in a statement. “We cannot confirm the reports or any of the details at this time. We will determine what happened and what the appropriate next steps would be.”
President Joe Biden discussed the blast with his Polish counterpart and expressed his condolences in a statement. He then called an emergency meeting with world leaders to discuss the situation.
“President Biden reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to NATO,” the official White House readout said.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said “every inch of NATO territory must be defended!” in a tweet to condemn the attack along with other world leaders.
“If Poland confirms that the missiles also hit its territory, this will be a further escalation by Russia,” Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala posted on Twitter. We stand firmly behind our EU and NATO ally.”
