Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is in an emergency meeting amid reports that two stray rockets fell in a Polish town on the Ukrainian border, killing two people.
Update 18:50 p.m. EST: the Polish Foreign Ministry has claimed that the rocket which fell on Przewodów was Russian in origin and has summoned the Russian ambassador according to a report from Sky News.
The summoning of the Russian ambassador comes after Poland stated it would be looking to possibly invoke Article 4 of NATO, which could see the country meet with other NATO allies to discuss Tuesday’s incident
The move could precede invoking Article 5 of NATO, which some have speculated may lead to a retaliatory strike on Russia, although some experts claim invoking Article 5 is unlikely.
Police officers gather outside a grain depot in Przewodow, eastern Poland, on Nov. 15, 2022, where the Polish Foreign Ministry said that a Russian-made missile fell and killed two people. The ministry said Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau summoned the Russian ambassador and “demanded immediate detailed explanations.” (AP Photo)
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Explosions have been reported in the town of Przewodów in Lublin province on Tuesday at around 3:40 pm, killing two people at a grain dryer, with the Associated Press claiming that a “senior U.S. intelligence official” has attributed them to Russian missiles landing inside Poland — a NATO member-state.
(Elmurod Usubaliev/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Marcin Lebiedowicz, spokesman of the District Headquarters of the State Fire Service in Hrubieszów, initially stated that the cause of the explosion was unconfirmed, but he did say that two people had died at the scene.
A further report from broadcaster Radio ZET claimed that the explosions were caused by a pair of stray rockets and that officials from the police, the prosecutor’s office, and the Polish armed forces had arrived on the scene.
So far, Polish authorities have not commented as to whether the rockets were Russian in origin or not.
Poland’s Prime Minister Morawiecki is in an emergency meeting of the Committee of the Council of Ministers for National Security and Defence Matters, according to a government spokesman.
According to Radio ZET, the committee includes some of the most senior ministers in the Polish government, including the Ministers for Justice, Defence, Internal Affairs, Foreign Affairs, and others.
Head of the Office of National Security Jacek Siewiera (left) and Spokesperson of the Polish government Piotr Muller make a statement after a crisis meeting of the Office of National Security in Warsaw on November 15, 2022. (JANEK SKARZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Polish Senator Piotr Kaleta, a member of the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS), called for calm regarding the situation, stating on Twitter: “I am asking you to remain calm and wait for the official, confirmed information from the Polish Government.”
The incident comes amid a barrage of rocket and missile attacks across Ukraine on Tuesday by the Russian armed forces, targeting critical infrastructure and knocking out power to large sections of cities, including the capital of Kyiv (Kiev).
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed on Tuesday that around 85 missiles had been launched, vowing to restore energy infrastructure.
Some NATO governments neighbouring Poland and Russia have already expressed concern about the incident, with the Estonian foreign minister saying they were “consulting closely” with Warsaw.
“Estonia is ready to defend every inch of NATO territory. We’re in full solidarity with our close ally Poland,” they declared.
The Hungarian government, a party to the NATO alliance which has hitherto urged a peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine and pragmatic engagement with Russia, has meanwhile confirmed that it is convening its Defence Council.
This story is developing…