U.S. Secretary of Defense and others laid overall but not specific blame on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war

A missile strike in farmland in Europe is the latest “crisis” in the nearly 9-month-old Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Poland, a NATO member along with the head of the military alliance both said on Wednesday that the missile strike on a Polish village that killed two people appeared to be unintentional.

Those officials also said the missile was probably launched by air defenses in neighboring Ukraine.

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, disputed those claims and asked for further investigation.

The assessments of Tuesday’s fatal missile landing appeared to defuse the likelihood that the strike would trigger another major escalation.

Article 5 of the NATO charter says that an attack against one is an attack against all.

While NATO has taken collective defense measures on several occasions, including in response to the situation in Syria and the Russian invasion of Ukraine—it has only invoked Article 5 once.

For the first time in its history after the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States, NATO evoked Article 5 and came to the defense of the United States.

Tuesday’s deadly missile landing in NATO territory stoked new fears of an escalation that could bring even bigger consequences.

But news from officials that it was likely not fired from Russia has calmed many.

In Washington DC, the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III and others laid overall but not specific blame on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war.