WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland will propose deploying additional Patriot missile launchers near its border with Ukraine, following an offer from Germany, Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Twitter on Monday.
“During today’s conversation with the German side, I will propose that the system be stationed at the border with Ukraine,” he wrote on Twitter.
Germany has offered Warsaw the Patriot missile defence system to help it to secure its airspace after a stray missile crashed in Poland last week, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht told a newspaper on Sunday.
The German government had already said it would offer its neighbour further help in air policing with German Eurofighters after the incident, which initially raised fears that the war in Ukraine could spill across the border.
The missile that hit Poland last week, killing two people, appeared to have been fired by Ukraine’s air defences rather than a Russian strike, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has said.
Ground-based air defence systems such as Raytheon’s Patriot are built to intercept incoming missiles.
(Reporting by Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Alex Richardson)
