On November 15, 2022, a missile strike killed two people in the small Eastern Poland village of Przewodow, which is located nearly five miles away from the western Ukrainian border. The incident is currently an ongoing investigation, but NATO Secretary General Jens Stolenberg says that, “We have no indication that this was the result of a deliberate attack and we have no indication that Russia is preparing offensive military actions against NATO.”

On November 16, 2022, NATO held the G20 Summit in Bali to discuss the strike in east Poland. This comes after not only the Polish missile, but the biggest missile bombardment by Russia in months towards Ukraine. Leaders at NATO concluded that there seems to be no serious threat against NATO, but they are going to step up their reconnaissance in the future.

Polish President Andrzej Duda discussed on November 16 during a press conference that the strike is an isolated incident, and that the missile does not appear to be Russian, but instead seemingly coming from a Ukrainian anti-missile defense system. President Joe Biden says that the missile is unlikely of Russian origin as well, but offers Poland the United States’ full support in their investigation. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a statement saying, “I want us to be fair, and if it was the use of our air defense, then I want that evidence.” 

Tensions are higher than ever, with Russia continuing to drain their missile supply on Ukraine, and NATO stepping up artillery near Poland’s Ukrainian border. On November 25, 2022, Germany proposed sending MIM-104 or “Patriot Launchers” to their close ally Poland for missile defense, but Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak told Germany that Ukraine is in need of those Patriot Launchers.

Russia has had a long running rivalry with Germany, and conflicts could potentially skyrocket if Russia learns of the German supply to Ukraine. Through desperation, Ukraine has directly asked Germany for more missiles because they’re low stock. 

NATO’s Article 5 was put into place to defend allied nations, and goes under the basis that the Article 5 is a collective defense, meaning if any nation inside NATO is attacked, every other nation would come to its aid. The last Article 5 that was put into place was the 2001 Terror Attack On 9/11, which sparked NATO to employ anti-terrorism counter measures throughout the world.

With the winter season coming in Ukraine, there is potential for hundreds of thousands of refugees to flee to neighboring countries. With Ukraine running low on supplies, they can not keep their country stable long term with Russia slowly attacking them. As more and more people flee the country and with infrastructure destroyed, Ukraine surely will have a tough time keeping their country stable in the future without the help of NATO.