Polish President Andrzej Duda held a series of telephone conversations on Tuesday evening with several leaders of NATO allied countries, including his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden and Ukrainian head of state Volodimir Zelenski.
Biden expressed his «deep condolences for the loss of life in eastern Poland» and offered «full US support and assistance for Poland’s investigation,» before reaffirming Washington’s ironclad commitment to NATO.
The US president has indicated that his Polish counterpart has described to him the current situation in the country, while assuring that both leaders — and their teams — «should remain in close contact to determine the appropriate next steps as the investigation progresses,» a White House statement said.
After hanging up the phone with Biden, Duda spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart, who on Tuesday denounced what had happened and accused the Russian Armed Forces of the impact of missiles on Polish territory.
«I have expressed my condolences for the death of Polish citizens due to Russian missile terrorism. We exchanged available information and are clarifying all the facts,» Zelenski said.
«Ukraine, Poland, the whole Europe and the world must be fully protected from terrorist Russia,» the Ukrainian leader said, before the Polish authorities confirmed the authorship of the incident.
Polish media have reported the death of two people in the town of Przewodow after the impact of two possible stray missiles. Police officers, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Polish Army have been dispatched to the scene.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki convened an extraordinary meeting of the National Security and Defense Committee of the Council of Ministers where the civilian deaths were confirmed, although Russia was not blamed.
The Polish authorities also confirmed that «some military units and other uniformed services» have been ordered to be prepared, and acknowledged that they are considering whether the conditions for initiating the Article 4 procedure of the NATO Pact are met.
This article states that «the parties shall consult when, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the parties is threatened».
Once that article is invoked, the issue is discussed by the allies and may trigger some kind of joint decision or action by the Alliance.
Since its creation, it has been invoked seven times, most recently in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine last February 24. At that time, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia requested consultations.
