Russian missile kills two people in NATO member Poland, US intelligence official says
A Russian missile has killed two people in NATO member Poland, a senior US intelligence official has told the AP news agency.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called an urgent meeting to discuss national security.
The Polish foreign ministry later said that a Russian-produced rocket fell on the village of Przewodow at 3.40pm local time, near the border with Ukraine.
The ministry added that it had summoned the Russian ambassador. Moscow has denied any involvement.
Mr Morawiecki said he was calling on all Poles to remain calm and air space monitoring was being stepped up.
Poland is raising the readiness of its military units, government spokesman Piotr Muller said.
He also confirmed there had been an explosion that killed two Polish citizens, and said discussions were underway over whether to activate NATO’s article four, which involves all members meeting at the alliance’s HQ.
Sky News subsequently learned that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will chair an emergency meeting of the alliance’s 30 member states on Wednesday.
‘Crisis situation’ as NATO responds – follow live reaction
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Site of Poland ‘missile strike’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a strike on NATO territory was a “significant escalation” and “action” was needed.
Polish President Andrzej Duda has spoken to US President Joe Biden, Mr Zelenskyy, and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Mr Sunak said he had “reiterated the UK’s solidarity with Poland”.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said he was in contact with Polish counterparts and NATO allies.
The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, said he was proposing that EU leaders attending the G20 summit in Bali hold a coordination meeting on Wednesday.
“We stand with Poland,” Mr Michel tweeted.
US Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said America would “defend every inch of NATO territory”, but added that he had “no information to corroborate press reports” of the alleged Russian attack.
Polish media said a missile had hit an area where grain was drying in Przewodow.
“Firefighters are on the spot – it’s not clear what has happened,” said firefighter Lukasz Kucy.
Russia’s defence ministry said reports of Russian involvement were a “deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation”.
It added in a statement: “No strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border were made by Russian means of destruction.”
However, Moscow launched a large number of missiles at Ukraine on Tuesday, knocking out power for seven million households.
Some of the missiles hit Lviv in western Ukraine, which is only about 50 miles from the Polish border.
Lord Richard Dannatt, former head of the British Army, told Sky News: “Modern technology is pretty accurate, so it’s quite difficult to explain away that this might have been an accident.
“If it wasn’t an accident then it was a test of the West’s response, and that’s something that’s got to be thought through very carefully.”
General Sir Richard Barrons, former head of the UK’s Joint Forces Command, said the “stakes are really high”.
He added that if Russia had targeted Poland deliberately then “this world of ours is taking a turn that no one could possibly have imagined even a month ago”.
But General Sir Richard said it was “far more likely” that a “missile had gone rogue” and had malfunctioned or been deflected.
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US will ‘defend every inch of NATO territory’
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Latvia’s deputy prime minister, Artis Pabriks, said: “Criminal Russian regime fired missiles which target not only Ukrainian civilians but also landed on NATO territory in Poland.
“Latvia fully stands with Polish friends and condemns this crime.”
Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said she was monitoring the situation closely and in contact with Polish friends and NATO allies.
Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad said he was “very concerned by Russian missiles dropping in Poland”, adding: “Russia must explain what happened. Senseless attacks on infrastructure must stop immediately.
“Russia’s recklessness is getting out of hand.”
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo tweeted: “We are all part of the NATO family.”
The Estonian foreign ministry said the news from Poland was “most alarming” and it was ready to defend “every inch of NATO territory”.
NATO has a principle of collective defence which means that an attack against one ally is considered an attack against all allies.
Fabrice Pothier, former director of planning at NATO, told Sky News that a NATO member which had been attacked could “trigger article five” and call all other members to help in its defence.
He added that it was too early to say whether what happened in Poland was an “intended attack” or whether it was the “misfiring of a missile”.
However, he said there was enough reason to trigger article four.
Subsequent actions could include augmenting the air defences of both Poland and Ukraine, Mr Pothier added. He described Ukraine as “de facto the first line of defence of the alliance”.
Poland has not been involved in the conflict, but has welcomed millions of Ukrainian refugees and has widely condemned the war.
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States,” he added, “going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukraine has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump against Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
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Trump says Putin ‘talks nice and then bombs everybody’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call,” but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
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Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.
At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.
Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.
The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.
It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.
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In March, Sky’s Stuart Ramsay described escalating violence within Syria
The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.
Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.
But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.
It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.
Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.
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UK aims to build relationship with Syria
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Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.
That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.
The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.
The man convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been charged with sexual assault against an ex-girlfriend.
Rudy Guede, 38, was the only person who was definitively convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Ms Kercher in Perugia, Italy, back in 2007.
He will be standing trial again in November after an ex-girlfriend filed a police report in the summer of 2023 accusing Guede of mistreatment, personal injury and sexual violence.
Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was released from prison for the murder of Leeds University student Ms Kercher in 2021, after having served about 13 years of a 16-year sentence.
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Since last year – when this investigation was still ongoing – Guede has been under a “special surveillance” regime, Sky News understands, meaning he was banned from having any contact with the woman behind the sexual assault allegations, including via social media, and had to inform police any time he left his city of residence, Viterbo, as ruled by a Rome court.
Guede has been serving a restraining order and fitted with an electronic ankle tag.
The Kercher murder case, in the university city of Perugia, was the subject of international attention.
Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found murdered in the flat she shared with her American roommate, Amanda Knox.
The Briton’s throat had been cut and she had been stabbed 47 times.
(L-R) Raffaele Sollecito, Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox. File pic: AP
Ms Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were placed under suspicion.
Both were initially convicted of murder, but Italy’s highest court overturned their convictions, acquitting them in 2015.
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