At least two people have been killed in Poland after two Russian missiles exploded in the Polish village of Przewodów near the border of Ukraine — an action marking the first time the kinetic conflict between Russia and Ukraine has involved another country.
The missiles landed in NATO-member Poland as Russia conducted a “mass bombardment of Ukranian cities earlier today, which saw over 100 rockets launched,” according to Express UK.
Poland scrambled fighter jets following the explosions and the Polish military and prosecutors have already arrived at the scene of the blasts to conduct an investigation.
Polish government spokesperson Piotr Mueller confirmed that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has convened an emergency meeting of national security and defense officials to discuss the “crisis situation.”
Massive power outages were reported in Ukraine and neighboring Moldova after the strikes knocked out a key power line, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Today’s bombardment comes just days after Kyiv celebrated the withdrawal of Russian forces from the Kherson region.
NATO members maintain a collective defense agreement, Article 5, which means that any attack against one member-country is considered an attack against all allies. The first time Article 5 was invoked was after the 9/11 terrorists attack on the World Trade Center in New York.
“My condolences to our Polish brothers in arms. Criminal Russian regime fired missiles which target not only Ukrainian civilians but also landed on NATO territory in Poland,” Artis Pabriks, Latvia’s defense minister, wrote on Twitter. “Latvia fully stands with Polish friends and condemns this crime.”
Though Russia’s missiles detonating in Poland appears to be unintentional, given member-country commitments under Article 5, it is unclear what the international response will be to a NATO country suffering civilian casualties resulting from Moscow’s military action.
As of the time of publication, no statement had been issued by the White House and there has been no statement through the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Next
Source link
Author Adrian Norman
