When a Russian-made missile strayed into Polish territory Nov. 15, it threw the U.S. and NATO for a loop, with Ukraine immediately blaming Russia. Because NATO has Article 5, guaranteeing mutual defense from the alliance to any members state, an uproar was created at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. Heads-of-State and foreign ministers immediately blamed Russia when the facts were not yet known. Today, there’s a better picture of where the missile came from but not before categorical denials by Ukraine. Ukraine uses the Russian-built S-300 missile defense system where incoming missiles are targeted by the missile defense system. Poland said it was “very likely” that a stray S-300 missile shot by Ukraine landed inside the Polish border killing two Polish citizens. Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky denied that Ukraine’s had anything to do with the incident.
U.S., EU and NATO officials need to apply pressure on Kiev to go to the peace table to end the Ukraine War. Zelensky set unrealistic conditions for ending the war, including having all Russian troops removed from Ukraine’s sovereign territory, including the Crimean Peninsula. When it came to yesterday’s missile strike inside Poland, Kiev jumped the gun. “Most likely, this was a unfortunate accident,” said Polish President Andrej Duda today. Duda thinks, with the best intel available, a Ukrainian missile defense projectile strayed from its target and landed in Poland. Calling a stray Ukrainian missile a Russian “conspiracy theory,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called the Russian denials preposterous. “No on should buy Russian propaganda or amplify its messages,” Kuleba tweeted. “This lesson should have been learnt since the downing of MH17,” Kuleba said.
Ukraine demanded that NATO call an emergency meeting at the G20 in Bali, including President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Spanish Prime Minster Pedro Sanchez, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and others to deal with looked like an escalation of the war to a NATO country. But instead of waiting patiently until the facts were known everyone rushed to judgment. “Russia bears responsibility for what happened in Poland yesterday, because this is a direct result of the ongoing war and wave of attack from Russia against Ukraine yesterday,” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Stoltenberg’s been adamant that Ukraine would not fast-track on NATO membership, knowing that it would create a wider conflict, maybe WW III. Stoltenberg doesn’t help things stating the obvious but should work feverishly toward ending the conflict.
Ukraine’s 40-year-old Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba shows off his prodigious ability to blow smoke, blaming everything on Russian. Kuleba is the last Ukrainian official that wants peace. He wants to battle the Putin and the Kremlin until declaring victory over the Kremlin. Belgium’s Defense Minister said that both “pieces Russian missiles and a Ukrainian interceptor missile” hit a farm building in the Polish town of Prxewodow. “To be confirmed by ongoing investigations,” wrote Ludivine Dedonder tweeted. Unlike Kuleba or others looking to escalate the war, Belgium shows the kind of judgment and common sense needed to defuse the current crisis. If Kiev wants the Kremlin to stop firing missiles and wrecking more of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, they need to go to the peace table for ceasefire talks. Complaining about he consequences of war, Kiev has other options to end the conflict.
When the chances of miscalculation, mishaps or mistaken happens, it’s time to end the risky business of continued war. Zelensky wants every inch of its territory back from Russia but in the best of all possible worlds, ending bloody and destructive conflicts are more important than grudge matches. Revenge gets Kiev nothing other than more carnage and infrastructure destruction. Yesterday’s Polish missile mishap should remind the EU and NATO that it’s time to close the chapter on the Ukraine War. No matter how many billions Kiev gets from the U.S. to fund its government and the war, it can’t go on forever. When the new Republican Congress is installed Jan. 3, 2023, Biden’s blank check for the Ukraine War will end. No matter how much U.S. elected officials support Ukraine, the blank check can’t last forever. Now in its ninth month, the Ukraine War does nothing other that increase Ukraine’s misery.
When the dust settles long enough to tell who’s responsible for the Nov. 15 missile strike inside Poland, it’s growing more likely it was a stray Ukrainian anti-missile projectile. Even if the missile came from Russian territory, the close border with Poland puts citizens into harm’s way. Duda takes the mishap in stride knowing it could be far worse if missiles start striking Polish population centers. EU and NATO ministers should look at the mishap with the intent of ending the war at the earliest possible time. Too much room for miscalculations could escalate the conflict to WW III or worse yet nuclear war. Zelensky wants to keep fighting but the time for compromise and negotiating is rapidly approaching. Maintaining the status quo in Ukraine is no longer possible. If the incident in Poland says anything, it’s that the risks of war are too great to keep it going without going to the peace table.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.