Poland ~ 2 Killed By A Missile Near The Ukrainian Border
Lavrov leaves G20 before the summit ends
Day 265 (15 November)
Fresh missile attacks on Ukraine continue after the Russians retreated from Kherson. This was expected, and residential areas in Kyiv have been hit. They already have rolling blackouts and it looks like the missiles were targeting more energy grids. Lviv in some parts was left without electricity, and Kharkiv was also attacked again. Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Kremenchuk were also attacked today. Russia launched at least 90 missiles across Ukraine today and some may have strayed into other border countries.
Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister leaves the G20 summit after one day, and before it ends tomorrow (16 November 2022) and apparently stayed in his room when other countries condemned Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy appeared by video link and called the summit the G19 to exclude Russia. He called for the countries to help to stop the war, and called for Russia to withdraw their troops and to accept the Ukrainian borders.
The UN resolution last night voted to hold Russian accountable for breaching international law and breaching the UN Charter by invading Ukraine. The resolution is symbolic and has no legal basis, but it allowed countries to express their support for Ukraine, and to call Russia out for their acts of aggression. I caught a clip of the Canadian UN Ambassador who stated the facts, that Russia had violated the Charter and by being on the Security Council, they have prevented peace.
The Russian UN Ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia accused the West of enabling the conflict and stated that that the resolution of legally null and void, He is correct on the latter, which is why the UN is powerless and a farce at times.
The Black Sea Grain Deal is being negotiated with reports that the US might facilitate Russian payments which would go against the sanctions it has imposed. Another prisoner swap has been discussed, but in light of the recent incident in Poland, close to the Ukrainian border where two Polish people have died from a missile, any such talks might be off the table now.
Banksy has confirmed he has created 7 murals in Ukraine, but not all of them have been discovered yet.
The Czech parliament has passed a motion calling the Russian government a terrorist administration . 129 MPs voted for the motion and 14 far right MPs opposed the motion.
In Przewodów in Poland, that sits on the border with Ukraine, a missile landed in a farm and killed two people. It appears the target was a power line that was nearby. The Polish National Security Council have convened an emergency meeting (20:00), and other world leaders are waiting for confirmation as to how the missile landed on NATO territory. Russia has claimed it was not them as they have not made Polish residences a target.
No strikes were made against targets near the Ukrainian – Polish state border by Russian means of destruction.
At present, world leaders are permitting Russia to give their side of the story, because Article 4 or Article 5 of the NATO Charter could be invoked. However, this was bound to happen as missiles have strayed near the borders of other countries before, and have hit Moldova who isn’t a member of NATO. However, parts of Moldova have no power or blackouts due to the Russian attacks
Poland has made no official statement on the incident yet. The original source of the information appears to be US intelligence. The Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawieiecki has yet to make any comment.
NATO and NATO countries await further information before they make their statements and decide what action should be taken. The Baltic states who knew that they were at risk have been offering support to Poland, and Ukraine has also offered their support to Poland in terms of defence. The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are all too aware that this could happen to them which is why they are pushing for more action to stop the Russian missile attacks.
The incident happened around 15:40 in Poland, and Przewodów is 5km from Ukraine. If Russia is responsible, it changes the dynamics of the war as it means that NATO troops must then defend the NATO borders and that means the skies as well. Przewodów is near the Dobrotivirska power plant that connect energy from Ukraine to the EU.
There is no doubt that this could escalate the war, and stray missiles were always a risk. Let us hope that NATO has the correct response this time as they should have already anticipated this as an eventuality.
The Russians are already claiming this is Polish provocation.
Poland is considering requesting NATO assistance in the matter, while the Polish president, Andrzei Duda is talking to Biden in the US, and the EU leaders are expressing concerns over the time sensitive matter
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I think that no statements should have been issued until an investigation was completed. I would say that NATO, Poland, Ukraine, and the US should have all remained silent and said they would await the findings of the investigation.
What I can see is this; NATO backing down and saying they aren't involved because they don't wish to escalate things, the US saying that they believe it was a Ukrainian accident but by doing so is being praised by the Russians (not something to brag about), and Ukraine saying it wasn't them. For once Macron has got it right and he has nothing to say until the investigation has been completed.
All we know is that 2 Polish people died as a result of a missile near the Ukrainian border, and that Russia was attacking Ukraine, and Ukraine was intercepting the missiles whenever it could. The Polish claim that the missile was Russian made, but there is likely to be more evidence as the incident happened less than 24 hours ago.
This has been major news here. Everyone covering it. Biden contacted the Prime Minister of Poland. It appears everyone is waiting for proof that it is or is not Russian. They're not going to take Putin's word for it. Imho, if it proves to be Russian, it becomes a game changer quickly.