Warsaw: Polish government confirmed on Wednesday that two civilians were killed in explosions in the eastern city of Hrubieszow near the country’s border with Ukraine, amid media reports of a missile hit.
“We are increasing the readiness of some military units and other uniformed services,” government spokesman Piotr Muller said after a meeting at the National Security Bureau, which was urgently convened after the incident.
Poland is verifying whether there is ground to launch the procedures under Article 4 of the NATO, Xinhua news agency quoted Muller as saying.
Article 4 of NATO’s founding treaty allows members to bring any issue of concern, especially related to the security of a member country, to the table for discussion within the North Atlantic Council.
The cause of the explosions has been unclear.
TVP, TVN, among several mainstream Polish media outlets, said earlier that the blasts were reportedly caused by Russian rockets falling on eastern Poland, but no confirmed information has been given.
The Russian Defence Ministry has denied the reports by saying in a statement that “Polish mass media and officials commit deliberate provocation to escalate the situation with their statement on alleged impact of ‘Russian’ rockets at Przewodow”.
Russia has launched no strikes at the area near the Ukraine-Poland border, it said, adding that “the wreckage published by Polish mass media from the scene in Przewodow have no relation to Russian firepower”.
Polish President Andrzej Duda spoke to his US counterpart Joe Biden, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, on Tuesday night, said Jakub Kumoch, head of the International Policy Bureau of the cabinet.
After the incident, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban also convened the Defence Council and the Hungarian government was monitoring the developments, according to Hungarian media reports.
The US Defence Ministry said it cannot yet confirm or deny the information about the alleged fall of Russian missiles in Poland.
(IANS)
