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LAST UPDATE | 15 Nov 2022
POLAND IS PUTTING some military units on a heightened state of readiness, a government spokesman has said, following unconfirmed reports that Russian missiles landed in the country.
“There has been a decision to raise the state of readiness of some combat units and other uniformed services,” spokesman Piotr Muller told reporters after an emergency national security council meeting in Warsaw.
Muller did not mention the reports of missiles but said there had been an explosion in eastern Poland in which two Polish citizens were killed.
“Our services are on the ground at the moment working out what happened,” he said after an emergency security council meeting in Warsaw.
Radio ZET has stated that the rockets struck a grain dryer near the village of Przewodow in the Lublin region of Poland, less than 10 kilometres from the NATO country’s border with Ukraine.
Polish media also reported that two people were killed in an explosion at a farm building in the village of Przewodow.
There was no official explanation of what may have caused the blast.
Polish media reported that the explosion occurred in a farm building in the village of Przewodow near the border with Ukraine.
Polish President Andrzej Duda also spoke to US President Joe Biden and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg this evening and officials said Poland was considering whether to call urgent consultations with NATO leaders under the alliance’s Article 4.
A White House statement said: “POTUS has been briefed on the reports out of Poland and will be speaking with President Andrzej Duda of Poland shortly.”
Article 4 of the NATO Treaty states that consultations can be called when any NATO member feels their “territorial integrity, political independence or security” are at risk.
“We are verifying the rationale for the use of Article 4,” said Jacek Siewiera, head of Poland’s national security council office.
“We are in very intensive contacts with key allies,” he said.
As a NATO member, Poland also falls under Article 5 of the treaty organisation’s collective defence meaning that “an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies.”
Article 5 was invoked for the first time in NATO’s history after the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States.
Stoltenberg has said it is important to find out the facts about what caused the deadly “explosion” in Poland after holding talks with President Andrzej Duda.
“Spoke with President Duda about the explosion in Poland. I offered my condolences for the loss of life. NATO is monitoring the situation and Allies are closely consulting. Important that all facts are established,” Stoltenberg tweeted.
Ukraine has called for NATO members to convene an “immediate” summit.
Moscow’s defence minister has dismissed reports that Russian missles had landed in Poland.
“Polish mass media and officials commit deliberate provocation to escalate situation with their statement on alleged impact of ‘Russian’ rockets at Przewodow (near the Ukraine border),” Russia’s defence ministry said in statements posted online.
“Russian firepower has launched no strikes at the area between (the) Ukrainian-Polish border,” it added.
The Russian ministry said that “the wreckage published by Polish mass media from the scene in Przewodow have no relation to Russian firepower”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the alleged attack as “a very significant escalation” of Russia’s invasion.
“Today Russian missiles hit Poland, the territory of an allied country. People died. Please accept our condolences,” Zelenskyy said in an address to the nation.
“The longer Russia feels this immunity, the more threats there will be against anyone within reach of Russian missiles. Firing missiles at NATO territory is a Russian attack on collective security. This is a very significant escalation. We must act,” Zelenskyy said.
EU chief Charles Michel has said he was “shocked” by the reports this evening, and later added he would call an emergency meeting of EU leaders at the G20 summit.
“Shocked by the news of a missile or other ammunition having killed people on Polish territory. My condolences to the families,” European Council president Charles Michel tweeted.
“We stand with Poland. I am in contact with Polish authorities, members of the European Council and other allies,” he wrote.
Shocked by the news of a missile or other ammunition having killed people on Polish territory.
— Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) November 15, 2022
My condolences to the families.
We stand with Poland.
I am in contact with Polish authorities, members of the European Council and other allies.@AndrzejDuda @MorawieckiM
Former President of Ireland Mary Robinson told Sky News the situation was very worrying but it’s still difficult to know what has happened.
“It’s difficult to put the pieces together at the moment, but now it’s gone further and caused deaths, it appears, in a NATO country. I don’t think there should be a massive reaction, I think there should be a very prudent reaction to this,” Robinson said.
“It’s one of the consequences of missile-firing into a territory, they don’t always get to where they were intended.”
Neighbouring countries
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has convened the country’s defence council over reports of the Russian missiles.
Like Poland, Hungary also shares a border with Ukraine.
“In response to the stop in oil transfer through the Druzhba pipeline and the missile hitting territory of Poland, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has convened HU’s Defence Council for 8pm (7pm Irish time),” tweeted Orban’s spokesman Zoltan Kovacs.
Other neighbouring countries have been quick to condemn any possible attack, with Estonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stating:
“We are consulting closely with Poland and other Allies. Estonia is ready to defend every inch of NATO territory. We’re in full solidarity with our close ally Poland.”
Latvia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Artis Pabriks, offered condolences and stated “Latvia fully stands with Polish friends and condemns this crime”.
Major Russian aerial assaults took place in Ukraine today, strikes in Lviv took place over 60 kilometres away from the village of Przewodow.
Earlier today, Zelenskyy dubbed the fresh barrage of Russian strikes targeting his country’s power grid a “slap in the face of G20″.
“This act of genocide of Ukrainians in response to my peace plan is a cynical slap in the face of G20 and the world,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.
Moldova
Moldova has also become unwillingly involved in the conflict, saying it was suffering from electricity outages today as a result of Russian strikes on energy infrastructure in Ukraine and called on Moscow to stop its attacks.
“Parts of Moldova are experiencing power outages as a result of Russia’s missiles hitting Ukrainian cities and vital infrastructure,” Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu wrote on Twitter.
“Every bomb falling on Ukraine is also affecting Moldova and our people. We call on Russia to stop the destruction now”.
The outages are just the latest example of how the war in Ukraine has spilled over the border of ex-Soviet Moldova, which like Ukraine has for years had Russian troops stationed in a breakaway region in its east.
Officials said the strikes in Ukraine has caused the automatic safety shutdown of systems that carry electricity supplies to Moldova and that dozens of settlements were left without electricity.
“We strongly condemn this new attack, the largest since the beginning of the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine,” President Maia Sandu said in response.
Moldova said on 10 October that Russian cruise missiles targeting Ukraine had crossed its airspace, and summoned Moscow’s envoy to demand an explanation.
Moldova was, along with Ukraine, granted candidate status by the European Union in a show of support in the face of Russia’s offensive.
With reporting from AFP
Great news for rural Ireland in particular.
@Shane Dunne: great. €1 per stamp now…crazy price.
The local post office is a staple of many a village in Ireland. Next to the pub and the gaa pitch. Iconic, even.
Good – but they be forced to clean up a bit?
Most of them are an utter shambles – old posters everywhere, bits of tat on the walls. If they had competitors, you’d go elsewhere.
Yes, some are tidy but in general they’re a mess.
@Shane Diffily: I don’t know where these post offices are located that you frequent but I can honestly say that the post offices I’ve been in the last few months are immaculate! I’ll name a few….Ballymote, gurteen, frenchpark, ballaghaderreen, Castlerea, castlebar, all of which also have lovely staff.
@selfsustainable: Well said and I can add a few more to that list – Millstreet, Kanturk, Banteer, Newmarket, Boherbue & I’m sure there are plenty more in towns & villages that are a credit to those running them. Still this is the journal after all so whinging & rudeness as well as loads of begrudgery seem to be the norm.
@Mary Cullinane: So someone’s opinion of messy post offices from his experience is rudeness and begrudgery now? Is it so hard to believe that outside your reality that everything isn’t as rosy as you’d like to believe?
Nice to hear some are well kept. Not common in my experience.
@Mary Cullinane: why is @Shane Diffily’s offensive to you? There was no whinging, rudeness, or begrudgery anywhere in his comment. It seems to be a common problem on the journal comments section that if someone talks about their experience that is less than favourable, or is critical of something….people like yourself will come back with insults like whinging, begrudgery, rudeness, etc. Which is actually exactly what your comment is. You did the very thing that you accused @Shane Diffily of. If his experience with An Post offices being clean is less than favourable…that is his experience. Who are you to say it isn’t? Quite frankly. ..I have had both experiences. Some are run beautifully , and are spotless. Others….just the opposite. Some so badly run and filthy that I don’t know why they are tolerated, or how they are allowed to operate.
Finally….some good news!
@Patty Cullinane: There’s plenty of good news out there ,it’s a beautiful warm sunny day,there is full employment,people are flying off in their thousands for holidays Ireland won the Slam,even fewer rough sleepers on the streets , cheer up ,happy days
Beware – Post Office Announcement – STATUS RED WARNING:-
I’m hugely concerned about this development. Whilst I cannot be sure at this point, it is believed that Bank of Ireland will enter into a contract with the Post Offices to provide “Community” Banking throughout the country. The Pillar banks win and citizens and the indigenous economy loose. Government wins because it pulls a three card trick, i.e. saves the Post Offices and introduces “Community” Banking in the one stroke.
However, the market dominance of the pillar banks will be further enhanced and a potential competitor, i.e. Post Bank, will be removed from the equation.
If this plan is actually announced, then government is once again failing to deliver under Article 45 [2] (iv) (Directive Principle) of the Constitution, which states;
“that in what pertains to the control of credit the constant and predominant aim shall be the welfare of the people as a whole.”
Interest rates will remain exorbitantly high (as criminally fixed by the pillar banks in conjunction with and protected by government / regulators). Remember that German Public Banks currently offer 30 year mortgages, fixed for ten years at 1.1% and business loans as low as 1% and not exceeding 3%.
Credit Unions will come under even more pressure as people will be encouraged to save with their “community” bank which will be in a position to offer higher rates than Credit Unions (being as BoI can “create” credit unlike the Credit Unions).
Bank of Ireland will reduce its cost base and have its work done for a pittance by Post Offices; BoI shareholders win, society loses – again.
Aesthetically, this looks like a great move and will bring huge praise and fanfare to Leo Varadkar and Fine Gael but the reality is that Ireland needs real Public / Community banking to compete with the risk taking privately owned pillar banks. In fact, introducing competition to the banking sector was a prerequisite to the EU / ECB bail out of our the pillar banks.
The way forward for the Post Office Network is to replicate what the New Zealand government did in 2002; to set up Ireland’s version of the Kiwi Bank. Kiwi Bank now has 20% of the New Zealand market and growing – now that would be a problem for Ireland’s pillar banks, wouldn’t it. And this is the crunch, corpocracy wins again.
Please message me on Facebook with e-mail address for a copy of our (PBFI – Public Banking Forum of Ireland) preliminary proposal document – “Creating Ireland’s Alternative Banking Force”.
@Seamus Maye: I think one of the reasons interest rates are higher here is we have no repossessions ,so why would Germans or anyone offer loans on property here, when they can’t get it back,when the borrower refuses to pay back ,and stays in the house protected by the politicians and the courts,so interest rates are high,is that true ?
@Robert Harris: not really. Banks here gave out a lot of tracker mortgages which are now unprofitable as they are tied to the historically low ECB interest rate.
In many cases, they didn’t hold enough deposit monies either, relying on wholesale overnight money market lending to satisfy the capital reserve requirements.
When the collapse came, as they weren’t sufficiently capitalized to cover loan impairments, they needed huge bailouts. No-one wanted to loan them money without premium rates and they only way they could attract funds (apart from the bailout money) was to offer higher deposit rates.
All these costs were passed onto the variable rate mortgage holders as the trackers can’t be touched.
Rates have come down relatively well over the past 3-4 years and whilst they’re still higher than our European counterparts, so are our deposit rates.
ECB rates are likely to begin increasing from 2019 onwards and there’s no telling how much they’ll go up – might be an idea for those on decent variable rates to consider fixing for a 5 year plus term if they can secure a competitive rate.
Trackers will come up regardless and may well end up carrying the slack for the variables to equalize the rates overall.
Every Post Office should
– have an ATM ( hardly any one does)
- sell county & town specific stamps ( aimed at tourists and collectors)
- open late one night a week
- have a desk for the local credit union in each branch
- be agents for concert tickets sales etc ( as their market is older )
- have parcel collect services
- facilitate ebay and amazon sellers
- be a drop off point for all deliveries – like Parcel Motel units ( i know they do a similar service but you have to go to the depot)
Think like a business….
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Shame really, AnPost run an absolutely woeful service and the market should be opened up to allow real competition.
They can’t make deliveries and refuse to engage with people who have complaints.
A package of mine went missing for nearly a month, no help from their incredibly rude staff. Only when I reported them to ComReg and forwarded the emails I had received calling me a liar and blaming me did my package magically turn up and get delivered.
Take a look at their twitter timeline for a quick glance at how they treat the public who rely on their service.
@Mack: “I had one bad experience e with this company that, therefore they are irredeemable”
@Neal Ireland Hello.:
I wish it was only one experience.
They “misplaced” contracts that were sent by registered post in January that cost my company a tender worth 6 figures. Boss is currently pursuing legal action over it. Contracts still haven’t been found.
My 5 year old nephews birthday cards arrived ripped open last November. Thankfully no one was silly enough to trust them with money, but it’s obviously what they were looking for.
I could mention the data protection breach that a current staff member is about to blow the whistle on but I’ll wait until it hits the media so as not to spoil the surprise for everyone.
Will they open for lunch now?
Probably not.
Nice one unions.
@Dara O’Brien: Making the same money as a check out operator in Tesco, I’m sure being able to actually eat a lunch in the day is a boon.
@Jennifer Allen: yes, eating lunch is nice. Many small retail staff do it – they tAke it turns so they can stay open. I know it’s a complicated suggestion but if you think about it hard enough it’ll come.
@Dara O’Brien: How do you propose that a one person Post Office “take turns”?
have your say