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Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Tuesday summoned the country’s security ministers for an emergency meeting, while the Associated Press reported a U.S. official as saying that two Russian missiles landed on the territory of the NATO country, killing two.
Polish news portal Onet reported that its sources in the Polish administration said the country had been hit by two Russian rockets.
Polish government spokesperson Piotr Müller did not confirm the reports, but said that more information would be released after the government meeting.
Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told he did not have any information to corroborate the reports.
Poland, as a member of the North Atlantic alliance, is covered by the treaty’s Article 5, which states: “An armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.”
Russian missiles on Tuesday hit targets across Ukraine in the largest such attack since the invasion began in February.
According to Polish radio, an explosion at 3:40 p.m. near the town of Przewodów killed two people. Police and the military are on the scene. A photograph from the location showed an impact crater near a grain silo.
We received a report of an explosion,” Marcin Lebiedowicz, a captain with the local fire department, told Radio Lublin. “Upon arrival, we confirm that something like this happened. Two people died on the spot. At the moment we are securing the scene.”
Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks tweeted: “My condolences to our Polish brothers in arms. Criminal Russian regime fired missiles which target not only Ukrainian civilians but also landed on NATO territory in Poland. Latvia fully stands with Polish friends and condemns this crime.”
The Estonian foreign ministry said: “Latest news from Poland is most concerning. We are consulting closely with Poland and other Allies. Estonia is ready to defend every inch of NATO territory. We’re in full solidarity with our close ally Poland.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that: “Ukraine reaffirms its full solidarity with Poland and stands ready to provide any necessary support. Collective response to Russian actions must be tough and principled,” adding that any attack on Poland means Ukraine should be supplied with “modern aircraft such as F-15 and F-16, as well as air defense systems, so that we can intercept any Russian missiles.”
Margarita Simonyan, the chief of Russian propaganda outlet RT, compared the situation in Poland to that of Belgorod, a Russian city near the border with Ukraine that has seen several Ukrainian attacks. “Now Poland has its own Belgorod region. What did you want?”
The Russian military denied any attack. “The statements by Polish media and officials about the alleged landing of ‘Russian’ missiles near the village of Przewodów are a deliberate provocation to escalate the situation. There were no strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border by Russian weapons,” reported the TASS news agency.
U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, head of the Foreign Relations Committee, told : “We’re drilling down to find out what were the circumstances of it. It’s obviously very important to understand — was it a mistake, was it an overflight, was it intentional? … Obviously if it was intentional, that has all kinds of consequences to it. It’s definitely an enlargement of the conflict and of course it brings into question Article 5.”
Andrew Desiderio contributed reporting from Washington.
This article has been updated.
