Poland puts its troops on alert after an explosion with two dead near the Ukrainian border

The Polish government is preparing to put its troops on alert after an explosion in Przewodow, six kilometers from the border with Ukraine, killed two people on Tuesday.

The cause of the impact is not clear, but the government of Mateusz Morawiecki, which has brought together its security council due to a "crisis situation", is "verifying" whether it needs to activate Article 4 of NATO, of which it is a member. Poland.

That article states that the allies will consult when the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the parties is threatened.

A senior US official quoted by the Associated Press news agency has assured that the explosion was due to the impact of a Russian missile, but the Pentagon has stressed that it cannot corroborate reports that Russian rockets have crossed the border with Poland.

More information

Last hour of the war in Ukraine

"We are taking the information very seriously," said a Pentagon spokesman, who has insisted that the event is under investigation.

NATO is also analyzing what happened "in close collaboration" with the Polish government, according to a spokesman for the Atlantic Alliance, of which Spain is also a member.

"It is important that what happened is determined," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg remarked on Twitter.

Spoke with President Duda @prezydentpl about the explosion in #Poland.

I offered my condolences for the loss of life.

#NATO is monitoring the situation and Allies are closely consulting.

Important that all facts are established.

— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) November 15, 2022

The US State Department, which is also working with Warsaw on the case, considers the event "extremely worrying" and will decide what steps to take based on the investigation.

Meanwhile, countries such as Latvia, Slovakia and Ukraine have directly targeted, although without providing evidence, the forces of Vladimir Putin.

"Russian missiles hit Poland," said Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky.

Russia denies this and has defined the incident as a "deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation".

The member countries of the Atlantic Alliance have been quick to show their support for Poland.

If it is confirmed that the explosion in Polish territory is linked to the Russian attacks on Ukraine, the incident may lead to a major escalation, since it would be the first attack with fatalities against a member of NATO and the EU.

The blast coincides with the day that Russia has subjected Ukraine to the heaviest missile barrage in the nine months of war, a shower of missiles on several cities that follows the withdrawal of troops from the Kremlin from Kherson.

Russian missiles have targeted mainly energy facilities and caused widespread blackouts in many parts of Ukraine.

With the Ukrainian border so close, some analysts have pointed to the possibility that the explosion was caused by a stray Russian missile or the remains of a projectile shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft batteries and even some fragments of these.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba has assured that the explosion in Poland was not caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile.

The Russian Defense Ministry has accused Warsaw of stirring up tension with the incident.

"The statements by the Polish authorities and media about the alleged drop of 'Russian' missiles in Przewodow are a deliberate provocation to escalate the situation," the department headed by Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a statement.

Moscow has assured that it has not attacked targets near the border between Ukraine and Poland and has insisted that the fragments found in the area, and whose photographs have been disseminated in the local press and on social networks, "have nothing to do with with Russian weapons.

Hours before, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrúshev, had urged to improve the protection of the central district of Russia "with anti-aircraft and counter-battery defenses" in the face of the possibility of alleged "terrorist attacks".

The high official assured, shortly before the massive bombing of Ukraine, that his special services had detained Ukrainian saboteurs on his territory.

The information about the explosion in Poland has caused the alarm of the Twenty-seven.

Especially in the members of NATO, in the Baltic countries, with borders with Russia, and in the states closest to the Eurasian giant.

Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks has attributed the explosion to the impact of Russian missiles.

"My condolences to our brothers in arms," ​​he said on Twitter.

“The criminal Russian regime fired missiles that targeted not only Ukrainian civilians, but also landed on NATO territory in Poland.

Latvia fully supports the Polish friends and condemns this crime, ”he added.

Latvia, in addition, has demanded that the Atlantic Alliance provide air defenses for Poland and "part of the territory of Ukraine", which would mean a change of pattern in the war.

Until now, NATO,

Also Slovakia's Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad has targeted Moscow.

“We are very concerned about the fall of Russian missiles in Poland.

Russia must explain what happened.

Senseless attacks on infrastructure must stop immediately.

Russia's recklessness is out of control," Nad said on Twitter.

Estonia has described the information about the explosion as "very worrying".

“We are consulting closely with Poland and other allies.

Estonia is ready to defend every inch of NATO territory.

We fully sympathize with our close ally Poland," the Estonian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on social media.

Lithuania is also looking at the situation very closely.

"Every inch of NATO must be defended," said its president, Gitanas Nauseda.

The supportive reactions of the members of the Alliance have followed one another while the governments of the EU countries are waiting for information from Warsaw to analyze the situation.

Also the high representative for Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell, is in close contact with his counterparts on the situation in Poland, according to a spokesman.

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, has remarked that he is "shocked" by the news of "a missile or other type of ammunition" that has killed two people in Poland.

Follow all the international information on

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber