- Thursday, March 06, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Poland’s army was put on high alert on Wednesday (16) after at least two persons were killed in a missile strike on a village near the country’s border with Ukraine.
The incident happened when G20 nations were holding a summit in Bali, Indonesia. Western leaders called an emergency meeting on the sidelines of the two-day summit that kicked off on Tuesday (15) to discuss the matter. They also called for a cautious reaction to what seems like a strike.
Polish president Andrej Duda said there was no clear evidence of who had fired the missile that killed at least two in Przewodow, a village in south-eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine where Russia has been conducting a war mission since February.
He also said that the missile was “most probably Russian-made”.
US president Joe Biden, who was among the high-profile guests at the G20 summit, said it was “unlikely” that the missile was fired from Russia while France sought “utmost caution” in identifying the force behind the strike.
Biden spoke with Duda over phone and offered “full US support for and assistance with Poland’s investigation,” the White House said.
The Russian ambassador to Warsaw was summoned to give “immediate detailed explanations” and the armed forces were alerted following an emergency national security council meeting, Polish authorities said, Radio France Internationale said.
? Statement on summoning the ambassador of the Russian Federation to Polish MFA pic.twitter.com/bXc7qh676A
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs ?? (@PolandMFA) November 16, 2022
While Poland is protected by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) commitment to collective defence, the alliance’s response to the incident is likely to be shaped by whether the strike was intentional or accidental.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said two Russian missiles exploded on Poland’s soil in what he described as “a very significant escalation”.
Russia’s defence ministry rubbished reports that it was to be blamed for the incident.
