NATO allies on edge after reports of Russian missiles hitting Polish village, killing two

The Polish government called an urgent meeting of its national security committee Tuesday after reports of Russian missile strikes that overshot the Poland-Ukraine border, killing two.

Neither Poland nor the U.S. government have confirmed the incident, which risks triggering Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, the agreement which created NATO. The article concerns the principle of collective security and the obligation of NATO member countries to treat a military attack on one of its members as an attack on all.

A spokesperson for the Polish government urged calm and patience.

“Any information that will be presented to the committee will subsequently be disseminated, if possible as widely as possible to the public,” read a government tweet attributed to Piotr Muller.

A U.S. Defense Department spokesman confirmed the Americans were aware of the reports but unable to confirm any details.

“I think we want to deal with facts,” said Air Force Gen. Pat Ryder.

However an unnamed U.S. government official cited by the Associated Press confirmed that there had been a missile strike and two people had been killed in Przewodow, a Polish village on the Ukraine-Poland border, about 100 kilometres from the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, which was among those cities struck Tuesday by Russian strikes.

Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that the Russian Ministry of Defence denied any responsibility and referred to reporting of the strikes as “a deliberate provocation.”

The incident comes amidst a barrage of missile strikes across Ukraine that plunged Kyiv, the capital, and other major cities into darkness.

A Polish journalist with Radio ZET reported that investigators were examining the possibility that the deadly projectiles that landed were the remains of a Russian rocket struck down by Ukrainian air defences.

But a strike on Poland, whether intentional or in error, is a potentially dangerous escalation. NATO has forces stationed across Eastern Europe, including a U.S.-led standing force based in Orzysz, Poland, according to NATO.

Canada is also in command of a battlegroup that is positioned in Latvia.

“When it comes to security commitments and Article 5, we have been very clear that we will defend every inch of NATO territory,” said Ryder, the Pentagon spokesperson.

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