By Vlad Schepkov
U.S. markets are trading sharply lower mid-Tuesday, with some attributing the sudden panic to reports from various Polish, Ukrainian and Western media outlets, claiming two stray Russian rockets fell on the territory of Poland, near the town of Lublin, and killed two people.
According to multiple sources, two missiles, suspected to be of Russian origin, fell near the town of Przewodow, Lublin Voivodeship, causing damage and claiming two lives of locals.
There are further reports that Polish Air Force scrambled fighter jets from a nearby Tomaszow-Lubelski military base, in response to the incident.
Furthermore, the Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki has called up an urgent cabinet meeting with defense officials.
The reports are yet to be confirmed or otherwise authenticated by either side, but if true, the incident risks triggering NATO's Article 5 - defense alliance's key principle, stating "Collective defence means that an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies."
Thus, the fatal strike, intentional or not, could mean the first real assault on a NATO member since the Russian-Ukrainian conflict began, and may therefore require an actual military response from Poland, NATO, and the collective West.
The SPY crashed nearly 6 points when the reports first surfaced, but has recouped some of the losses since.
The story is still developing at the time of this writing.