Polish government urgently meets after reports of Russian missile deaths

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called the defense summit on Tuesday evening for an emergency session due to a “crisis situation”, without disclosing further details. “We are increasing the readiness of our military units,” government spokesman Piotr Müller said in a press conference. The government did not confirm that missiles hit Polish territory. Russia’s defense ministry denies carrying out attacks near the Polish border, calling the reports “deliberate provocations”.

Prime Minister Rutte called the reports of missile strikes and casualties in Poland “serious” and said it was important to establish what happened. “We are in close contact with Poland and our other NATO partners,” Rutte said on Twitter.

Several Polish media reported explosions near the border with Ukraine around 7 p.m. According to the local fire service, it is unclear what exactly happened, but two fatalities have occurred. A US intelligence official told the AP that the explosions were caused by stray Russian missiles. The White House and the Pentagon have not yet confirmed this.

The United States and several other NATO members call the reports “very worrying.” They want clarity as soon as possible about exactly what happened in order to come up with a unanimous response. Some other Member States are less cautious. For example, Latvia has condemned the attacks of the ‘criminal Russian regime on Polish territory’.

NATO member state

If Russia really touched Polish territory, it is a very sensitive issue. An attack on Poland is seen by NATO as an attack on all member states and obliges them to provide support. Depending on international responses to the incident, NATO may become directly involved in the war in Ukraine.

In Ukraine itself, at least twelve regions and cities were hit by Russian missile and drone attacks on Tuesday afternoon. A lot of energy infrastructure was affected. Power was also lost in the western city of Lviv, near the Polish border. At least one person died in the capital Kyiv. Ukraine says it was the largest Russian airstrike since the start of the war.

This ended the Ukrainian victory rush after the liberation of Kherson in one fell swoop on Tuesday. It seems that Russia is trying to compensate for its losses on the ground with airstrikes, with the electricity grid being the main target. With winter fast approaching, the Kremlin is using the cold as a weapon against the Ukrainian people.

In the meantime, Kyiv is making every effort to restore and better protect the power supply. Western air defense systems must make Ukraine less vulnerable to new Russian bombings. President Zelensky said in a video message that the Russian missile shower will not break the morale of the Ukrainian people. “It is clear what the enemy wants, but he will not achieve it,” he said. “We are working, we will fix everything, we will survive.”

Moldova was also indirectly hit by the Russian missile shower on Tuesday. There was a temporary power outage in most of the country. Similar problems have already occurred after Russian attacks. “Every bomb that falls on Ukraine also affects Moldova and our people,” Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu wrote on Twitter. Unlike Poland, Moldova is not a member of NATO or the European Union.