NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday expressed his condolences to Polish President Andzrej Duda for the death of two Polish citizens following an explosion in the Polish town of Przewodow, in the province of Lublin, near the Ukrainian border, which local media attributed to missiles.
«I have spoken to Duda about the explosion in Poland. I have offered my condolences for the human losses. NATO is following the situation and the allies are in close consultation,» the NATO political chief said of his contact with the Polish leader.
In a message on social networks, Stoltenberg called for calm and stressed that «the important thing is that the facts are clarified».
After the news broke, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki convened the National Security and Defense Committee of the Council of Ministers for an extraordinary meeting.
The Baltic countries were the first to react to the episode in Poland. Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks took direct aim at Moscow, accusing the «criminal Russian regime» of having fired missiles not only at civilians, but also at «NATO territory in Poland», suggesting a collective NATO response under Article 5.
NATO’s mutual defense clause states that an attack against one or more NATO members is considered an attack against all allies. To date it has only been invoked on one occasion, following the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The incident comes on a day when Russia has launched a new wave of attacks on the western territory of Ukraine. Kiev, Lviv and many other cities have been the scene of Russian offensives, mainly targeting energy infrastructures.
