NATO's response to the missile incident depends on Poland's decision

 Hitting Polish soil with rockets is not surprising, but it shows the complete irresponsibility of the Russian ruling elite. Now it all depends on the position of Poland. How will the authorities react to the actions of the Russian Federation? - writes military historian Igor Kopytin.

Massive Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian territory clearly show the inability of the aggressor's state to quickly resolve the conflict by military means. Instead of the promised "blitzkrieg", the Russian army has switched to total war and is trying to break the will of resistance of the Ukrainian people by carrying out bombings and missile attacks on civilian targets and infrastructure. At the same time, the Russian leadership does not seem to understand that such a "dualism", based on military historical experience, has a rather opposite effect - hatred of the aggressor and even greater cohesion of the population.

It should be noted that the Russian side has already carried out attacks on the territory of Ukraine near the NATO borders, in the area of ​​the Jaworowski training ground in the Lviv region. The Russian authorities have also repeatedly threatened to attack "NATO convoys" supplying weapons to the defenders of Ukraine. That is why the attack on Polish soil with the use of Russian “highly precise” weapons is not a surprise, but it testifies to the complete irresponsibility of the Russian ruling elite.

Now it all depends on Poland's position, i.e. how it will react to the actions of the Russian Federation. It is known that the President of the Republic of Poland convened the National Security Committee for an extraordinary meeting. It can be assumed that a full-scale war with Russia is not in the interest of the European Union and the largest European states, which are rather in favor of a peaceful settlement of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

In any case, it should be recognized that everyone is now waiting for Poland's decision and it is too early to talk about launching Article 5 of the Washington Treaty. However, it is most likely that Article 4 of the said agreement will be launched, which provides for consultations between NATO coalition partners in the event of a threat to the independence or territorial integrity of one of them.

If you are very speculative, you can assume that NATO might close the skies over Ukraine. In any case, Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which provides for a collective military response in the event of an attack, can only be triggered with the full consent of all members.