Although the top Ukrainian and Polish leaders and most of the West have hurried to accuse Russia of the missile that hit on Tuesday Polish territory near the border with Ukraine, killing two people, US President Joe Biden has said it is “unlikely” that the missile was fired by Moscow.
He noted that the missile’s trajectory was inconsistent with an attack launched by Russian forces pointing out, however, that the information was preliminary and stressing that Poland’s allies would support a full investigation.
The White House informed that Biden, who is attending the G20 summit in Bali, had convened an emergency roundtable among G7 NATO members, as well as Japan and the leaders of the European Commission and European Union, to discuss the explosion.
The world leaders on three continents raced to find answers about the event that could prove one of the most significant moments in Russia’s war on Ukraine, but their statements were cautious given the sky-high stakes.
The Polish government earlier held an emergency meeting to deal with the crisis situation and though it’s unclear what action might be taken in response, Polish President Andrzej Duda said it is highly probable that Warsaw would soon invoke Article 4, which allows NATO members to consult should the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of them be threatened.
Article 4 is a provision that requires NATO’s 30 member states to hold consultations if any member believes they are under military threat although investigators lack concrete evidence at the moment pointing to any responsible party behind the missile.
The Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau went as far as to summon the Russian ambassador to Poland, Sergey Andreyev – ‘bragging’ later that Andreyev was received without any exchange of courtesy, even without shaking hands – to explain the situation, after which he was read a diplomatic note.
After NATO convened an emergency meeting of ambassadors in Brussels on Wednesday, the alliance’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said they have no indication the incident was the result of a deliberate attack by Moscow nor that Russia is preparing offensive military attacks against NATO.
Minutes earlier, Polish President also said that the missile crash was not an intentional attack and it was most likely an unfortunate accident but when asked who was responsible for launching the missile, he said there is a high probability that the missile was used by the Ukrainian defense forces.
The same conclusion was also conveyed by Belgium’s Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder, who tweeted on Wednesday that the strikes in Poland seem to be a result of Ukrainian air defense.
