Russian missiles fall in Poland killing two; NATO calls emergency meeting

Warsaw: According to Polish media and the Sputnik news agency, two missiles touched down in Poland on Tuesday.

Two missiles reportedly fell in Przewodow, a populous district in the Lublin Voivodeship near the Ukrainian border, according to the Russian news agency. The incident resulted in the deaths of two persons, and the army and police are currently assisting at the scene.

Following reports of missiles hitting Poland's territory, Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister of Poland, called a meeting of the Security Council Committee of the Council of Ministers.

"The Prime Minister @MorawieckiM called as a matter of urgency the Committee of the Council of Ministers for National Security and Defense Affairs," government spokesperson Piotr Muller tweeted.

Lukasz Jasina, a spokesman for the Polish foreign ministry, issued a statement in which he demanded: "immediate detailed explanations" regarding the incident.

"On 15 November 2022, another hours-long, massive shelling took place of the entire territory of Ukraine and its critical infrastructure by the armed forces of the Russian Federation. At 3:40 pm, a Russia-made missile dropped on the village of Przewodow, district Hrubieszow, Lubelskie province, and resulted in the death of two citizens of the Republic of Poland," the ministry statement said.

Two wayward rockets that landed in Polish territory, according to Western media, were fired from Russia. The military alliance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) includes Poland as a signatory.

According to Article 5 of the treaty, if one of the member states is subjected to an armed attack, all other members are also at risk, according to reports from ANI and AP.

Following the explosion in the country's east near the Ukraine border, Polish President Andrzej Duda spoke with both US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Biden underlined the US' unwavering commitment to NATO and offered Poland's probe full US support and help.

British Prime Minister Sunak expressed sympathy for the victims and reaffirmed the UK's support for Poland in a tweet. He further stated that the UK would continue to communicate closely with its NATO allies.

NATO has stated it is looking into accusations that Russian missiles targeted Poland in addition to the US and UK.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expressed sympathies to Polish President Andrzej Duda and stated that the organisation is "monitoring the situation."

The head of NATO, according to some media sources, will preside over an "emergency meeting" of the alliance's 30 members on Wednesday in Brussels.

Following the explosion close to the Ukrainian border, Poland will make some of its troops more combat-ready and may activate Article 4 of the NATO military alliance treaty, according to sources quoted by CNN.

The NATO members are bound by Article 4 of the military alliance to "consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened."