The missile strike has ignited visceral fear in Poland, and poses hard questions for Nato | Karolina Wigura and Jarosław Kuisz

We have been abandoned by our allies before. What happens next will be a test of the west's resolve

If the history of central and eastern Europe is being rewritten by the conflict in Ukraine, then so is the history of the north Atlantic alliance.

Two people were killed on Tuesday evening in Polish territory, struck, it seems, by a Russian-made missile. The US president, Joe Biden, and the Warsaw government sought to dial down the tension, saying on Wednesday that the missile most probably came not from Russia but from Ukrainian air defence.

Karolina Wigura is a historian of ideas. Jaroslaw Kuisz is editor-in-chief of the Polish weekly Kultura Liberalna.