The war in Ukraine is now in its 266th day. And attacks between Russia and Ukraine remain constant. The latest victim is Poland. Two missiles fell in a rural area near Przewodow on Tuesday, killing two people. According to a spokesman for the Polish Foreign Ministry, Russia was responsible for launching these projectiles. This was confirmed in a press release issued minutes after the attack:
On 15 November 2022, another hours-long, massive shelling took place of the entire territory of Ukraine and its critical infrastructure by the armed forces of the Russian Federation. At 3:40 pm, a Russian-made missile dropped on the village of Przewodów, a district of the Hrubieszów, Lubelskie province, and resulted in death of two citizens of the Republic of Poland. Therefore, Minister of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau summoned the ambassador of the Russian Federation to Polish MFA and demanded immediate and detailed explanation.
Polish President, Andrzej Duda, was more cautious in his statements. During a press conference reported by the AP, the Polish leader said the missiles were "most probably" of Russian origin but that the investigation was still ongoing: "We are acting with calm, this is a very serious situation," he confirmed. On Wednesday, he stated that it was "an air defense missile that unfortunately fell on Poland territory."
#PAD: Wiele wskazuje na to, że była to rakieta obrony powietrznej, która niestety spadła na terytorium Polski. [2/2]
— Kancelaria Prezydenta (@prezydentpl) November 16, 2022
Following this, Joe Biden convened an emergency meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit. It was attended by representatives from Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Canada and the Netherlands. There, the president assured that NATO and the G7 leaders condemned any and all "barbaric missile attacks that Russia perpetrated on Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure on Tuesday."
Russia believes "increasing possibility" of a world war
The statement released by the White House went on to state that all NATO members would give "our full support for and assistance with Poland’s ongoing investigation" and that they would be "in close touch to determine appropriate next steps as the investigation proceeds."
However, he declined to confirm Polish suspicions about the origin of the missiles. He told a press conference following the G7 meeting that there is "preliminary information that contests that. It is unlikely in the lines of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia, but we’ll see."
Following the attack, Poland could invoke Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty. A measure that opens the possibility of consulting NATO member countries on the possibility of acting when "in the judgment of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any party is threatened."
However, as revealed by Reuters through a NATO source, Biden informed NATO members on Wednesday that the explosion was caused by "a Ukrainian air defense missile" and that Poland would not be interested in applying Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
For his part, former Russian president and deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, warned on his Twitter account that "the story of the Ukrainian 'missile attack' on the Polish farm proves only one thing: the West, with its hybrid war with Russia, increases the likelihood of a world war."
История с украинским "ракекетным ударом" по польской ферме доказывает лишь одно: Запад своей гибридной войной с Росссией повышает вероятность начала войны мировой.
- Дмитрий Медведев (@MedvedevRussia) November 16, 2022
Meanwhile, Joe Biden announces that NATO countries, with their investigation, will "find out exactly what happened," before taking any action.
