As an example of the type of incident that could inadvertently ride the escalation ladder to global nuclear annihilation, a missile hit a grain drier in the Polish town of Przewodów, not far from the border with Ukraine. The incident, which is reported to have killed two people, occurred on Nov. 15 amidst Russia’s large-scale missile attack on Ukraine. Initial media reports, including from AP, indicated that the blast was caused by a Russian “stray missile.”
Those reports were not confirmed by the Polish government, which had earlier convened an emergency meeting to discuss the incident. Government spokesman Piotr Mueller called on the media and the public “not to publish unconfirmed information,” according to RT.
Countering the reports that it was a Russian stray missile that hit the grain drier in Poland, the “Mash” Telegram site published photos taken by the Polish government, claiming that the fragments are from the Soviet era S-300 air defense systems, currently in use by Ukraine. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba responded with a tweet by calling the allegation a “conspiracy theory.” The Polish Foreign Ministry went on to say that it had confirmed that the missile was made in Russia (during the Soviet era?) and summoned the Russian ambassador “with a demand for an immediate detailed explanation,” according to a statement.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought to escalate the situation with his inimitable dramatic flair, saying, “This is a Russian missile strike on collective security,” and that “NATO needs to act,” which brought forth a social media deluge of discussion on whether Article 5 of NATO would be invoked. Senate Foreign Relations Chair Bob Menendez (D-NJ) then took a turn at the script, saying in an interview that, if Moscow intentionally struck territory in Poland, it could lead to invoking Article 5.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry responded to the fray by tweeting “Russian hardware has launched NO strikes at the area.” And other voices weighed in on behalf of de-escalation. “We cannot confirm the reports or any of the details at this time. We will determine what happened and what the appropriate next steps would be,” U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
