After at least one missile seemed to have impacted in Poland near the Ukraine Border, Poland invoked Article FOUR of the NATO Treaty to seek "consultation" with other NATO Members. That invocation has been WITHDRAWN, but NATO Ministers will discuss the incident at their regular meeting today.
US (Illegitimate) President, Joe Biden, told reporters that based on the trajectory of the missile, "It is unlikely" the missile was fired from Russia. Two citizens of Poland died in an explosion when a missile impacted yesterday.
Additional updates coming LIVE at this hour, 5:45 AM eastern US time, Wednesday, November 16, 2022 . . .
President Joe Biden responded to a deadly missile strike in NATO member Poland by convening an “emergency” meeting of world leaders from both the Group of Seven and several NATO countries early Wednesday.
The group was already together in Bali, Indonesia, for a G20 summit and met around a large roundtable in the ballroom of Biden’s hotel, according to the Associated Press.
While Biden initially gave no response when questioned about the strikes at the roundtable, he later confirmed that preliminary evidence suggested the missile was not fired from Russia at all. “We’re going to make sure exactly what happened. I don’t want to say until we completely investigate, but it’s unlikely, in the minds of the trajectory, that it was fired from Russia. But we’ll see
As fully detailed and reported yesterday (Story Here), Russia launched over 100 missiles at Ukraine on Tuesday, striking targets all over the country. Late Tuesday night, over 79% of Ukraine had no electric power.
One of the collateral issues created during a large Russian missile strike upon Ukraine yesterday is that the Barátság crude oil pipeline has stopped. There is no longer any electricity from Ukraine to power the oil pipeline pumps.
Ukraine has been using stolen Russian oil to keep their war machine going. Now, Ukraine reports the pipeline is down and Ukraine only has about 90 days of oil remaining for itself.
Those two little words, "for itself" have very serious meaning. The pipeline provided oil to other countries and now, immediately, they get none.
Affected countries
POLAND
CZECH
HUNGARY
SOLVAKIA
PIPELINE MAP:
According to information from the controller of the Ukrainian oil pipeline system, a Russian artillery shell hit a transformer station in Ukraine close to the Belarusian border, which supplies electricity for the operation of one of the pumping stations of the Barátság crude oil pipeline.
As a result of the hit, crude oil deliveries on the pipeline to Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia were temporarily stopped.
“We are following the events with attention, and together with the Ukrainian partners we are investigating the conditions for restarting the Friendship pipeline,” read the statement of Mol.
The Russians are bombarding the territory of Ukraine with large forces, and transformer stations are the main targets. Shutting down electric is a military goal so as to stop Ukraine's trains, thereby making it impossible for Ukraine to transport men, equipment, and ammunition for the war.
Ukraine has enough fresh crude oil for 90 days, which it can use in its refineries. Alternatively, they can also transport crude oil via the Adriatic pipeline. The 90 day reserve is -theoretically- sufficient to organize the southern deliveries.
UPDATE 6:10 AM EST --
US initial findings are that the missile that fell in Poland was fired by the Ukrainian military in response to incoming Russian missile.
Russian Security Council: "Poland's missile incident shows that Western interventions in Ukraine could lead to a world war."
Russian Defense Ministry: On November 15, the Russian armed forces inflicted a massive strike with high-precision long-range air and sea-based weapons on the military command system of Ukraine. All missiles hit exactly the designated targets, all objects are hit.
Poland Summoned Russian Ambassador
In the immediate aftermath of the missile impact, Poland "Summoned" the Russia Ambassador for an explanation. Here is the announcement from the Poland Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
Russia DENIES
The Russian Ministry of Defense was blunt and fast with its public statement: "No strikes were made against targets near the Ukrainian-Polish state border by Russian means of destruction."
So here we all are, about ten hours after the fact, and things seem to be calming down quite fast. Poland has WITHDRAWN its request for Article Four emergency consultations. NATO Ministers will discuss the incident at their regular meeting today.
Countless sources all over the Internet are showing photos of various missile parts, many of which seem to show that the remnants of the missile in Poland seem to be from a Ukrainian Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) likely fired by Ukraine at incoming Russian missiles.
Hal Turner Analysis
In war, things go wrong. Missiles go off course. Missiles get hit by other things and malfunction. When they come down, they still come down with a bang. But in this case, in Poland, it now appears that this was an ACCIDENT. Either a malfunctioning, or perhaps damaged missile went off course and hit Poland.
Yes, two people have been killed, and that __is__ tragic. However, one does not start World War 3 between NATO and Russia over what clearly seems to be an accident.
The final proof will be whatever it will be, but for right now, things seem to be calming down. Thank God.
UPDATE 7:18 AM EST --
IT'S OFFICIAL!
The Government of Poland is going to communicate to its NATO partners on Wednesday that the missile that hit its territory on Tuesday and caused two deaths was fired by the Army Ukrainian, a European diplomatic source CONFIRMS.
According to the source, who asked for anonymity, Warsaw will not invoke Article IV of the North Atlantic Treaty before its Alliance partners, which provides for consultations between allies when threatened "the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties".
The Polish Executive would have already contacted its NATO allies to confirm this information, according to which it was a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile that deviated from its trajectory.
Already in a press appearance last morning, Polish President Andrzej Duda declared that what happened "is unlikely to be repeated" and that it is not the beginning of an organized or intentional attack.
Some forces of the Polish Army and other security forces in the country have been placed on high alert and in a message this Wednesday, the Polish Defense Minister, Mariusz Blaszczak, reported that "selected air defense systems and military units, from both ground and armed forces, are on high alert."
"The Polish army is monitoring the situation. We are in constant contact with our allies, "concludes the minister's statement.
After registering an explosion produced by a missile in the Polish town of Przewodów ( east ), a few kilometers from the border with Ukraine, which killed two people, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki appeared in the press last night to ask his compatriots for calm and alerted against the proliferation of false news, provocation and disinformation "that only benefit Russia"
