(Reuters) – NATO member states’ representatives meeting on Wednesday will likely discus a request to strengthen air defences on the alliance’s eastern wing, Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger said.
“It is natural that there will likely be a request on the table to strengthen the airspace of countries on the border,” he said.
Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad, speaking alongside Heger at a news conference after a missile killed two people in eastern Poland on Tuesday, said Slovakia would ask for additional air defence systems from alliance partners.
“Yes, we will request further systems that will safeguard even more the security of Slovak citizens,” he said.
“I am not excluding that further strategic air defence systems will go to eastern Slovakia,” he said, adding no concrete agreements had been made.
Slovakia, which borders Ukraine in the east, currently has three batteries of the Patriot air defence system deployed in the country and operated by allied troops.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Toby Chopra)
