Top European leaders said Wednesday that the missile that killed two people in Poland on Tuesday appeared to be an unfortunate accident and not a deliberate attack by Russia on a NATO member.
Fears that the war with Ukraine could spill over into a clash between Russia and NATO eased slightly Wednesday as Western officials said it was likely an errant Ukrainian defensive shell not a deliberate salvo from Russian forces that hit a grain facility inside Poland and killed two citizens of the NATO country.
President Biden spoke by phone with Polish President Andrzej Duda, the White House said Tuesday, after suspected Russian missiles crossed into Poland, killing at least two people in the NATO ally.
President Volodomyr Zelenskyy has pushed for Ukraine to be fast-tracked into NATO, saying his country upholds the democratic values of the Western military alliance and has shown its effectiveness on the battlefield. But, a senior Russian official on Thursday said such a move would all but guarantee sparking a much wider conflict in Europe.
The Senate on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to ratify Finland and Sweden's membership in NATO, in a show of bipartisan support for the Western alliance's expansion spurred on by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.