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What the week after Przewodów changed in Europe
Summary
A look back at 25 November 2022, after a missile strike in Poland, a German air-defence offer and a European Parliament vote on Russia.
What had shifted in European security thinking by 25 November 2022? Two developments from the preceding days, one military and one political, set the context.
Patriots for Poland's border
On 22 November 2022, Germany said it would deploy Patriot surface-to-air missile systems on the Poland–Ukraine border to protect Polish airspace. Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said he had accepted the German proposal.
The offer followed the explosion on 15 November 2022 in the village of Przewodów, near the Ukrainian border, which killed two people. The strike came during Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. Ukraine initially accused Russia of striking Poland, while the United States said the missile was likely an air-defence missile fired by Ukrainian forces at an incoming Russian missile. Later, in September 2023, the Polish Prosecutor's Office stated that the blast was caused by an out-of-control Ukrainian S-300 air-defence missile.
A political verdict in Strasbourg
On 23 November 2022, the European Parliament designated Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. It cited Russian military strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine, including critical infrastructure, hospitals, schools and bomb shelters.
Two tracks, one week
Taken together, the two decisions marked a week in which allies moved both to defend a NATO member's airspace and to condemn Russia's conduct in the war in political terms. The Patriot deployment was a practical response on Poland's frontier, while the Parliament's designation was a statement about attacks inside Ukraine.
