NATO allies Poland and Germany have agreed to deploy additional Patriot missile launchers near the Polish border with Ukraine following an offer from Berlin, Poland's defense minister said on Monday.
"The German Defence Minister confirmed her willingness to deploy the Patriot launcher at the border with Ukraine," Mariusz Blaszczak wrote on Twitter.
Jestem po rozmowie z Ch.Lambrecht. Niemiecka minister obrony potwierdziła chęć rozmieszczenia wyrzutni Patriot przy granicy z . Do ustalenia pozostaje wersja systemu, jak szybko do nas dotrą i jak długo będą stacjonować. Liczę na szybkie przedstawienie szczegółów przez stronę
— Mariusz Błaszczak (@mblaszczak) November 21, 2022
"The version of the system remains to be determined, as does how quickly they will reach us and how long they will be stationed."
Berlin offered Warsaw the Patriot missile defense system to help secure its airspace after a stray missile crashed in Poland last week, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht told a newspaper on Sunday.
The German government had already said it would offer its eastern neighbor 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
The missile that hit Poland last week, killing two people, appeared to have been fired accidentally by Ukraine's air defenses rather than to have been a Russian strike, NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg has said.
Ground-based air defense systems such as Raytheon's RTX.N Patriot are built to intercept incoming missiles.