Poland has decided to raise the combat readiness of selected branches of the Armed Forces. A meeting of the Council of Ministers, convened in connection with the explosion near the Ukrainian border, ended before midnight on Tuesday. Two people were killed in the rocket explosion. There is no conclusive evidence so far of who fired the missile.

“We have decided to raise the combat readiness of selected parts of the Polish Armed Forces, with a particular focus on airspace monitoring”, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said after a special cabinet meeting.

The explosion killed two Polish citizens and occurred in the village of Przewodów in the Hrubieszów district of the Lublin voivodeship on Tuesday afternoon. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the cause of the explosion was the impact of a “Russian-made missile”, but it has not been confirmed who fired the missile.

The explosion occurred during the hours-long massive shelling of Ukrainian territory by Russian armed forces.
“We know perfectly well that a Russian missile attack continued throughout the day, but we have no unambiguous evidence who fired the missils”, said President Andrzej Duda during a night meeting with journalists.

After the explosion in Przewodów, the Polish president held numerous international consultations, including with US President Joe Biden, who assured the Polish leader that allied commitments would be met.

“He made it clear that the United States absolutely honours all our alliances and supports us. All the provisions of the North Atlantic Treaty and the alliance commitments are in force and the United States stands with us in upholding Polish security, as well as the entire North Atlantic Alliance”, said Andrzej Duda.

Also, the President’s interlocutors included NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. All statesmen assured their support and upholding of NATO’s provisions.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński