Poland is planning to station Patriot air defense systems at the border with Ukraine, after agreeing to an offer from Germany, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said.
“I accepted with satisfaction the proposal of the German Minister of Defense regarding the deployment of additional Patriot missile launchers in our country. During today’s telephone conversation with the German side, I will propose that the system be stationed at the border with Ukraine,” Blaszczak said in a Twitter post on November 21.
Z satysfakcją przyjąłem propozycję niemieckiej minister obrony dot. rozmieszczenia w naszym kraju dodatkowych wyrzutni rakiet Patriot. Podczas dzisiejszej rozmowy telefonicznej ze stroną niemiecką, zaproponuję by system stacjonował przy granicy z Ukrainą.
— Mariusz Błaszczak (@mblaszczak) November 21, 2022
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht announced an offer to protect Poland’s airspace “with our Eurofighters and with Patriot air defense systems” during an interview with German newspaper Rheinische Post on November 20, 2022.
The comment was made after a stray missile entered Polish airspace from Ukraine on November 15, 2022, and killed two people.
The incident was followed by European powers scrambling to ensure delivery of further air defense systems to Ukraine.
The exact origin of said missile remains unclear, with both Polish and US officials saying that it was most likely a Ukrainian air defense missile launched to intercept a Russian cruise missile.
Russia conducted another mass attack on Ukrainian civilian targets on November 15, mostly aimed at the country’s energy infrastructure, using cruise missiles and kamikaze drones. A number of targets located in the Western part of Ukraine, near the Polish border, were attacked, resulting in the conflict spilling across the border.