According to the Polish government, at least two people have died in an explosion that hit a grain drier facility in the Polish town of Przewodow, located not far from the Ukrainian border.
“Two people died in an explosion in a Polish village near the border with Ukraine on Tuesday, firefighters said, with NATO allies investigating unconfirmed reports the blast was caused by stray Russian missiles.
The explosion occurred after Russia hammered cities across Ukraine with missiles on Tuesday, attacks that Kiev said were the heaviest wave of strikes nearly nine months into the Russian invasion. Some hit the western city of Lviv, less than 80 km (49.7 miles) from the border with Poland.
Poland is a member of the U.S.-led Western military alliance NATO, which is committed to collective defense, and the possibility that the Polish explosion resulted from an intentional or accidental Russian strike raised alarm.
A NATO official said the alliance was looking into the reports and closely coordinating with Poland.
The Associated Press cited a senior U.S. intelligence official as saying the blast in the eastern Polish village of Przewodow was caused by Russian missiles crossing into Poland.
In Washington, the Pentagon and the U.S. State Department said they could not confirm [that] Russian missiles had landed on Polish territory.
‘We are aware of the press reports alleging that two Russian missiles have struck a location inside Poland near the Ukraine border. I can tell you that we don’t have any information at this time to corroborate those reports and are looking into this further’, Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said.
Russia’s defense ministry denied reports that Russian missiles had landed in Poland, describing them as ‘a deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation’.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called an urgent meeting of a government committee for national security and defense affairs on Tuesday night, government spokesman Piotr Muller said on Twitter.
Polish Radio ZET reported that two stray missiles hit Przewodow, killing two people, without elaborating. The village is 6 km (3.5 miles) from the border with Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy said without providing evidence, that ‘Russian missiles hit Poland’.
Senior officials from Germany, Norway, Lithuania, and Estonia – all NATO members – said they were trying to glean more information together with Poland and other allies.
‘This is a very serious incident but much remains unclear’, Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said”. -Your News
It’s highly transparent that it is in Ukraine’s best interest to try to draw NATO further into its conflict with Russia. However, with the Ukrainians being taken under siege recently by missile strikes by the Russians, the West is beginning to pressure Zelenskyy to start negotiations.
Since, in all likelihood, it would be less economically detrimental for Europe to sever its ties with the United States than it would be to isolate itself from Russia and China, these repeated attempts to sell what are such minor “provocations” as a potential casus belli seem rather futile.
Let's hope that NATO thinks better than to get any more involved than it already is and that it won’t be stupid enough to call in Article 5.