NATO faces new challenge as Ukraine war spills into Poland
Al JazeeraMilitary alliance and analysts say deadly blast in Poland highlights need to further strengthen NATO’s eastern flank. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the explosion in Poland “a very significant escalation” and said, “We must act.” But NATO and Western nations, including the United States, have since calmed fears suggesting the missile was a stray, likely part of Ukraine’s air defence systems. Alexander Lanoszka, assistant professor of international relations at Canada’s University of Waterloo, told Al Jazeera the incident demonstrates that “NATO territory cannot be purely insulated from the air defence challenges that Ukraine faces”. So whichever way you look at it, context matters.” Townsend said that with Moscow’s intensified campaign, the West and NATO must focus on sending more air defence systems to Poland and countries bordering Russia and Ukraine. “At least in the winter weeks ahead, air defence systems will help Ukraine because already we see that the country’s air defence is managing to target a lot of Russian missiles,” Nedelcu said.