There were a few moments yesterday after the news broke that a missile had killed two civilians within the border of Poland where the world was holding its breath. Did Russia actually send a missile over the border between Ukraine and Poland???

The hit occurred during a Russian strike on Ukraine, but because both sides are using the same types of missiles, no one could tell for sure who had fired it.

The missile landed outside the rural Polish village of Przewodow, about four miles (6.4 kilometers) west from the Ukrainian border on Tuesday afternoon, roughly the same time as Russia launched its biggest wave of missile attacks on Ukrainian cities in more than a month.”

The circumstances surrounding the incident, which marks the first time a NATO country has been directly hit during the almost nine-month conflict, remain unclear. It is not known who fired the missile, or precisely where it was fired from, though the Polish Foreign Ministry has described it as “Russian-made.”

Both Russian and Ukrainian forces have used Russian-made munitions during the conflict, with Ukraine deploying Russian-made missiles as part of its air defense system.”

President Volodomyr Zelensky instantly wanted NATO to jump in. And I mean INSTANTLY.

Zelenskyy statement, per MSNBC:

"To fire missiles at NATO territory, this is a Russian missile attack on collective security. This is a significant escalation. We must act." pic.twitter.com/TfdR2j8FAM

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) November 15, 2022

This jump to conclusions was kinda sus, as the kids say. After all, no one knew where the missile had actually come from, and yet Zelensky was insisting that NATO get a move on. Hmmm, I wonder why???

Well, it turns out that it likely was a Ukrainian missile that was trying to knock out Russian ones during the air attack.

A missile that crossed into Poland on Tuesday and killed two people likely came from Ukrainian air defenses trying to knock down a barrage of Russian rockets, the Polish government and NATO’s chief said Wednesday.”

“Nothing indicates that this was an intentional attack on Poland,” said Polish President Andrzej Duda.”

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that means Poland may not need to invoke Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which convenes NATO members to discuss whether a country’s “political independence or security” is threatened.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg chaired an emergency meeting of alliance ambassadors on Wednesday in Brussels to discuss the incident.”

After the session, he said information so far suggests the missile that landed in Poland came from Ukrainian air defenses fighting off a massive Russian attack on Tuesday that saw the country pummelled by dozens of missiles that caused blackouts across Ukraine.”

“We have no indication that this was the result of a deliberate attack,” he said. “And we have no indication that Russia is preparing offensive military actions against NATO. Our preliminary analysis suggests that the incident was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile fired to defend Ukrainian territory against Russian cruise missile attacks.”

Ukraine’s allies aren’t blaming Kyiv for the incident, noting the country was trying to defend itself.”

“Let me be clear, this is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility,” Stoltenberg said.”

And yes, you can legitimately make the argument that Russia is to blame, the same way that you would blame the driver of the car who hit the car behind you, who then hit your car. Without the chain reaction, the end result – in this case, two innocent people being killed in Poland – doesn’t happen. It’s nice of Poland and NATO to be understanding of the situation. Perhaps we can hope for the same understanding the next time Palestine starts firing missiles from Gaza and ends up killing their own people – oh wait, that would really put a crimp in the “blame Israel for defending itself” crowd in the media. But I digress.

The death of two civilians in Poland is a tragic consequence of being so near a war zone, and Ukraine should make what restitution it can, obviously. The problem here is really Zelensky’s automatic insistence that NATO get involved before there was even an investigation. Tell me – who benefits if NATO does get involved? It couldn’t possibly be Zelensky, would it?

The war in Ukraine is a quagmire, to put it mildly. Putin has no way to get out and save face, and Zelensky has no way to compromise and save face. It would take someone with political strength and backbone to insist that Ukraine start figuring out what they want to do, because the money is not limitless, no matter what Joe Biden thinks.

President Joe Biden is asking Congress to provide more than $37 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine, a massive infusion of cash that could help support the nation as Russian forces suffer battlefield losses in their nine-month-old invasion. https://t.co/4aPoKf0Fhm

— The Associated Press (@AP) November 15, 2022

When does this stop? When does the Biden administration actually show some leadership? Biden is at the G20, after all, and he could talk to the leaders now that the missile strike issue seems to be resolving…

Joe Biden lusts over Russian man:

Biden: "His biceps are as big as my calves. Look at this. There's a man. I hope we're on the same side."

"Sir, he's Russian."

Biden: "I don't care who he is. He's got some real biceps. We call them guns." pic.twitter.com/NJPZRtHRnS

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) November 16, 2022

Oh, dear God.

At what point do we tell Zelensky that the ATM that he thinks the American taxpayer is, is now closed to him? We can’t just keep shoveling billions of dollars for a war with no end goal. Without NATO intervention, Russia will not leave Ukraine. NATO intervention is not going to happen, even if Zelensky is rooting for it. Joe Biden is getting distracted by biceps, and his White House is in charge of our foreign policy. We’re in trouble, everyone.

Featured image via Leonhard_Niederwimmer on Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license