US vows to protect ‘every inch of NATO territory’ after Poland strike

Russian missiles have killed two people in NATO territory as US intelligence officials have confirmed an explosion has occurred close to the Polish border with Ukraine. The Pentagon has indicated the incident will be taken ‘seriously’ and the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has called for an urgent meeting to discuss national security. US officials have vowed the Biden Administration will act to protect ‘every inch’ of NATO territory in wake of the attack.After news broke of the explosion within Polish territory, US Department of Defence press secretary Brigadier General Patrick Ryder was questioned on President Biden’s commitment to NATO defence protocol.He told reporters: ‘As I mentioned, we are looking into these reports, we don’t have any information to corroborate them at this time so I don’t want to speculate or get into hypotheticals.’When it comes to our security commitments and article five, we have been crystal clear that we will defend every inch of NATO territory.’Article five of the NATO alliances asserts that an attack on any one of the member countries will be considered an attack against all member states, prompting a collective defence response. The Pentagon has indicated the US will act to protect ‘every inch’ of NATO territory (Image: Sky News )The US Department of Defence has told Politico reporters the explosion was likely caused by a ‘missile strike’ and not the ‘remnants’ of a missile shot down by Ukraine’s troops.Lara Seligman, Pentagon reporter at Politico, wrote on Twitter that the American Department of Defence was still ‘assessing reports of an explosion in Poland’.She added: ‘[A] US official tells me it was likely caused by a missile strike or errant missile, not remnants of a missile Ukrainian forces shot down.’The Russian Foreign Ministry has denied responsibility for the alleged attack on NATO member Poland. The Russian News Agency TASS reported: ‘The statements of the Polish media and officials about the fall of ‘Russian’ missiles in the Przewodow region are a deliberate provocation. The Russian armed forces did not strike any targets near the Ukrainian-Polish border.’More to follow…