Poland is considering triggering the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) Article 4 after a Russian missile strike killed two individuals in Ukraine. Members of the alliance are investigating the situation while Russia has denied the same. Poland has confirmed that the missile that killed said individuals had been made in Russia.

If the Article is activated, a member nation can call for a meeting to discuss issues that it feels threatened by.

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Piotr Muller, a spokesperson for the Polish government, told reporters, “A moment ago we decided to verify whether there are grounds to launch procedures under Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty”.

On Wednesday, Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of the alliance, will be chairing a meeting of 30 members of NATO. He tweeted:

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The attack has prompted response from UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who tweeted, “I have just spoken with the Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary. We are urgently looking into reports of a missile strike in Poland and will support our allies as they establish what has happened. We are also coordinating with our international partners, including NATO.”

Sunak sent out another tweet an hour later, after he spoke with Andrzej Duda, the President of Poland: “I have just spoken to Polish President @AndrzejDuda following reports of a missile strike in Poland.

I reiterated the UK’s solidarity with Poland and expressed condolences for the victims.

We will remain in close contact and continue to coordinate with our NATO allies. “

Joe Biden has also tweeted that he has spoken with Duda and “will remain in close touch to determine appropriate next steps as it proceeds”.

If the NATO meeting decides to trigger Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, it will mean that the alliance is considering the attack on Poland as an attack on the alliance itself. This can initiate an attack against Russia by NATO. However, NATO might also consider the fact that the attack was on Ukrainian power grids, and the two missiles had crashed close to the border of Ukraine and Poland.