Irish Examiner view: Fears allayed but Europe on edge

Polish missile hit

Experts look through the site where a Russian-made missile hit, killing two men, in Przewodowo, eastern Poland.

For a worrying couple of hours on Tuesday, the Polish village of Przewodow seemed a candidate for inclusion on a short, evocative list of international flashpoints such as Sarajevo in 1914.

A missile landed on a grain dryer in the village, which lies just four miles from the Ukraine border, killing two people.

It is the first time that the territory of a Nato country has come under fire as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the fear of war escalating beyond those two nations has been a nagging presence ever since the conflict began in February.

Initially, it was feared that Russia might be directly responsible for the two Polish citizens killed in the rocket blast — a turn of events with implications for the entire continent, but with immediate consequences for the Poles.

Soon, however, both Nato and Poland itself moved to allay fears that Przewodow might be remembered by future generations as the place where a localised conflict kindled into a far wider war.

Polish president Andrzej Duda pointed to the likelihood that the missile had been launched by Ukraine as it tried to fight off a huge Russian assault on its infrastructure, an explanation widely accepted by most parties.

“It is highly probable that one of these missiles unfortunately fell on Polish territory,” said Duda, and his thesis was supported by the Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, who said there was no indication that the deaths had occurred as part of a deliberate attack.

This will no doubt come as calming news for the rest of Europe, but the German chancellor made the obvious point that the deaths in Przewodow would not have happened if Russia had not invaded Ukraine in the first place, forcing the latter country to defend itself.

Those deaths in Poland don’t appear to have influenced hearts and minds in the Russian establishment, with a Kremlin spokesperson describing the Western reaction to Przewodow as hysterical. However, the spokesperson praised America’s restrained and professional approach to the incident.

An oblique invitation to a diplomatic overture? Only time will tell, but it would be a welcome development even at this late stage.