President Biden on Tuesday called an emergency meeting with other world leaders to discuss a Russian-made missile strike that reportedly killed two people in a village in Poland near the Ukraine border.
Biden, who is attending the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, convened a meeting with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Spain, Japan and the Netherlands. The leaders of the European Commission and European Union were also in attendance.
The leaders did not offer any comment while reporters were in the room, and Biden said he would not give any comment on what he knew about the explosion.
The president had previously spoken with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
“President Duda described Poland’s ongoing assessment of the explosion that took place in the eastern part of the country near the border with Ukraine,” said a White House readout of the call. “President Biden offered full U.S support for and assistance with Poland’s investigation.”
Russian-made missiles reportedly killed two people near a grain silo in a village about 15 miles from the Ukraine border, though Russia’s Defense Ministry has denied firing any missiles near the Ukraine-Poland border. Russia invaded Ukraine in February and has targeted Ukrainian cities with missile strikes.
The U.S. and other NATO members have largely said they are still gathering information on the incident before deciding how to respond. The missiles landed in Poland amid a fierce Russian aerial barrage on Ukraine targeting energy infrastructure ahead of winter.
The strike has set off a frenzy over the Western alliance’s mutual defense mechanism known as Article 5.
That article says that any attack on a NATO member “shall be considered an attack against them all.” It was last invoked following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.
Source: The Hill
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