Russian missiles land in Poland, killing 2 people: AP
Poland, a NATO member, was hit by two Russian missiles, killing two people, according to an unidentified US intelligence official quoted by the Associated Press.
The strike was also reported by Zet radio station in Poland, which said cluster missiles had landed about 6 kilometers from Poland’s border with Ukraine. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called an extraordinary meeting of the National Security Committee after the reports, government spokesman Piotr Muller said on Twitter, declining to give specific reasons for the meeting and citing “unconfirmed information”.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the reports were a provocation and denied its military aimed missiles at targets near the border with Poland.
The dollar rose, with the Bloomberg dollar index up 0.1% the day before after falling 1.1% earlier, while the euro fell 0.2%. The Polish zloty lost more than 1%.
Latvia’s Defense Minister Artis Pabriks said in an interview with Bloomberg Television that he had received information about the incident from multiple sources, including Polish authorities, and that his government was seeking further confirmation of what happened.
“Latvia will support if Poland requests consultations under Article 4 of NATO,” he said. “The next steps, in my view, if this is fully confirmed, should be a much more serious discussion about air defense systems and, in my view, the closure of at least part of the Ukrainian skies.”
Under Article 4 of NATO, Allies may raise any national security concern for discussion with NATO member officials before taking action.
Earlier Tuesday, a spate of rocket attacks targeted Kyiv and elsewhere in Ukraine, hitting civilians and critical infrastructure in what authorities said was the widest attack of its kind since the Russian invasion in February. Ukraine’s Air Defense Forces said around 100 rockets were fired, surpassing the Oct. 10 figure, as a broad rocket attack hit Ukrainian settlements across the country, leveling infrastructure.
The missile landing in Ukraine has cut power to about 7 million homes across much of the country, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy chief of staff to the Ukrainian president, said in TV commentaries.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke via video link to a group of 20 leaders gathered at a summit in Indonesia and called for the full withdrawal of Russian troops before peace talks can take place.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has previously warned of the possibility of casualties from the war in Ukraine spilling over into Alliance territory and stressed the importance of military communication channels with Russia to prevent misunderstandings from spiraling out of control.
“When we see more military activity, when we see actual fighting taking place near NATO borders, there is always a risk,” Stoltenberg said in March.
It is not the first time that stray objects have entered NATO airspace since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. In March, a six-ton unmanned reconnaissance drone from war-ravaged Ukraine sped over Eastern Europe and crashed in the Croatian capital Zagreb.
–With support from Gregory L. White and Andrea Dudik.
Sign up for the Fortune Features Email list so you don’t miss our biggest features, exclusive interviews and investigations.
