Tuesday November 15, 2022
Polish government spokesperson said top leaders meeting due to 'crisis situation'
A suspected missile crater in Przewodów, Poland. Photograph: WoW - Wolski o Wojnie / Facebook
A senior U.S. intelligence official says Russian missiles crossed into NATO member Poland, killing two people.
Polish government spokesperson Piotr Mueller did not immediately confirm the information, but said top leaders were holding an emergency meeting due to a "crisis situation."
Polish media reported that two people died Tuesday afternoon after a projectile struck an area where grain was drying in Przewodow, a Polish village near the border with Ukraine.
National Defence Minister Anita Anand said she was in close contact with Poland, and the Canadian government is monitoring the situation closely.
Russia rained missiles on cities across Ukraine on Tuesday in what Ukraine said was the heaviest wave of missile strikes in nearly nine months of war, echoing a pattern in recent weeks of Moscow lashing out far from the front after battlefield losses.
The incident, which is not yet confirmed by the White House and denied by Russia, could raise questions about the use of NATO's Article 5.
According to Article 5, an attack on one NATO member is considered an attack against them all. And it calls on the alliance members to assist the attacked country by taking "such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force."
However, each country has no obligation to respond militarily.