Poland Calls NATO Meeting After Russian Missiles Kill 2

WARSAW: Poland invoked Article 4 of the NATO agreement to call a meeting of the members of the alliance following the death of two people because of missiles reportedly fired by the Russians.

According to reports, multiple missiles rained down on a part of Poland which is located miles away from the Ukraine border. This triggered the member nation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to call a meeting of all member nations. The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday.

The Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty says, "The parties will consult together whenever any of them have the opinion that the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any party is threatened."

The Polish government has mentioned that Russian-made missiles caused the death of two of its citizens in a village located about 15 km inside the Ukraine-Poland border. The Russian Defence Ministery has however clearly denied firing any missiles near that location in the recent time. The Ukrainian President has claimed this incident to be a "really significant escalation" of their war against Russia.

NATO member nations including the United States have not responded to the attacks. Reports suggest that they are still gathering intel regarding how to act. A few of the members including Joe Biden, the president of the United States were at the G20 Summit held in Bali of Indonesia when the incident took place.

The U.S. and other NATO members have largely said they are still gathering information on the incident before deciding how to respond. The missiles landed in Poland amid a fierce Russian aerial barrage on Ukraine targeting energy infrastructure ahead of winter.

The missiles also caused tension among the allies due to the defence and retaliation procedure as per the next point of the treaty. Article 5 mentions that when a NATO member is attacked, the incident "shall be considered an attack against them all."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had also asked for this meeting on Tuesday afternoon following the deaths. According to reports, the US considers Poland to be one of the strongest allies of Ukraine in the ongoing war but has not made any threats.

In a conversation with the head of Poland, Joe Biden ensured the full support of the United States to Poland. He has also called for an emergency meeting of the G7 nations following this development.

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