“Party of Kyiv”. Warsaw does not invoke Article 4

War in Ukraine, missile crashed in Poland – Photo by Ansa Foto

The missile that fell in Poland last night, killing two after the rain of more than 100 Russian rockets, sent the whole world into turmoil. Europe is in shock, NATO on the alert, in an international context where world leaders are meeting at the G20 in Bali.

For the first time, a country of the Atlantic Alliance is directly affected by a conflict. We are trying to understand the dynamics of the story and in the meantime we are discussing Article 4 of NATO which Poland could invoke, even if it has decided not to. Warsaw put certain military units on alert, asked for an emergency NATO meeting, but chose the line of extreme caution pending the outcome of the investigations.

Countries will launch formal consultations to determine if the threat exists and how to respond to it, with decisions ultimately being made unanimously.

What does Article 4 of NATO provide?

The latter provides that “the parties shall consult each other whenever, in the opinion of one of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of one of the parties is threatened”.

Biden: “The missile came from a Ukrainian anti-aircraft”

According to reports, the rocket that hit the village in eastern Poland was a Ukrainian missile. US President Joe Biden also confirmed this, stating that the type of weapon is a missile belonging to the S-300 system. The Polish Foreign Ministry confirmed that the rocket was Russian-made and summoned the Russian ambassador for “detailed explanations”.

According to Biden, the hypothesis that the missile that arrived in Poland was launched by Russia is “unlikely, if you look at the trajectory, that the missile was launched by Russia, but let’s see. Preliminary information disputes this assumption that Russia did. I don’t want to say until we do a full investigation.”

The G7 and NATO document

The same caution comes from the rest of the world, as also stated in the final communiqué of the G7 and NATO leaders published by the EU: “We condemn the barbaric missile attacks that Russia carried out on Tuesday on Ukrainian cities and civil infrastructure. We discussed the explosion that occurred in eastern Poland, near the border with Ukraine. We offer our full support and assistance with the ongoing investigation in Poland. We agree to stay in close contact to determine appropriate next steps as the investigation progresses.”

“I call on all Poles to remain calm in the face of this tragedy. We must exercise restraint and caution,” said Mateusz Morawieki, Prime Minister of Poland.

Zelensky: “Message from Russia to the G20”

“Russia is now promoting a conspiracy theory that it was a Ukrainian air defense missile that landed on Polish territory. This is not true,” Kyiv Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.

The theory was also championed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who, addressing the G20 participants, said: “There was a terrorist among you” and that the missile that ended up in Poland is “a message authentic from Russia to the G20”. ″.

Moscow returns charges to sender

Moscow returns the accusations to the sender, saying the missiles dropped in Poland were an attempt “to provoke a direct military confrontation between NATO and Russia, with consequences for the entire planet”. So, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Dmtry Polyansky.

Meanwhile, a NATO aircraft flying over Polish airspace tracked the missile. A military official confirmed this. The data “with radar traces was provided to NATO and Poland”.

Erdogan: “Negotiate as soon as possible”

“You shouldn’t insist that the missile that fell in Poland was launched by Russia, that would be a provocation.” Thus Turkish President Recep Tayyp Erdogan in Bali. “Maybe it’s a technical error.” And he reiterated the need for negotiations: “We must bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table as soon as possible. Peace can only come through dialogue and we are committed to it”.