President Joe Biden held an emergency meeting with world leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit hours after a missile reportedly struck Polish territory on the border of Ukraine.
Polish media reported a projectile struck Polish farmland early Wednesday morning local time, killing two. There is an ongoing investigation into the explosion, but the Polish Foreign Ministry has said Russia is responsible for the missile, according to the Associated Press. (RELATED: Russian Missile Kills Two In NATO Country: REPORT)
Leaders from France, Germany, Spain, Canada, the U.K., Italy, Japan, the EU, the Netherlands, the European Commission and the European Council joined Biden at a table in Indonesia in the early hours of Wednesday morning local time. The president did not provide an update on the explosion.
Biden held a call with Polish President Andrzej Duda after the explosion, offering U.S. assistance into the investigations and reaffirming his commitment to the NATO country.
BREAKING – Radio Zet: Two stray rockets fell in the town of Przewodów in Poland on the border with Ukraine. They hit the grain dryers. Two people died. The police, the prosecutor’s office and the army are on site. https://t.co/WhAoxH7YQc pic.twitter.com/9VhnoZwl81
— Faytuks News Δ (@Faytuks) November 15, 2022
The explosion comes after Russia’s widespread missile attacks on Ukraine on Tuesday, and is the first time a NATO country has been struck by a missile during the Russia-Ukraine war.
Article 5 of the NATO treaty states that an attack on one member state is an attack against all member states and, if used, allows a country to call on its allies to conduct a joint response.
The White House did not mention the potential invocation of Article 5 in their readout of Biden’s phone call with Duda, but the president did say the U.S. has an “ironclad commitment to NATO” and that they would be in touch to “determine appropriate next steps as the investigation proceeds.” The president did not mention where he thinks the missile came from.
Biden then held a phone call with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he also spoke with Duda and exchanged information about the explosion, calling Russia a “terrorist.”
In a video message, Zelenskyy said “action is needed” following the reported attacks on a NATO country, and called it a “really significant escalation” of the war.
Ukrainian Member of Parliament Sviatoslav Yurash called for the invocation of Article 5 on Twitter, saying “an attack on one is an attack on all.”