Warsaw clarifies timeline for deploying German Patriots

According to Berlin’s deputy military minister, Wojciech Skurkiewicz, Warsaw will soon acquire Patriot air defense systems built in the US. After a stray Ukrainian missile killed two Polish citizens in November, Germany offered to install Patriots on the country’s soil.

Skurkiewicz told the IAR press agency that the missile launchers may enter the nation at any moment and that they needed to be “connected into” the Polish command system.

The Patriots will be stationed in the Lublin region, which borders Ukraine, with assistance from German service members. IAR sources claim that Berlin has already dispatched work groups to Poland in order to set preparations for the main forces’ expected arrival over the weekend.

There will likely be 400 German soldiers in Poland altogether.

Poland justifies its choice to supply tanks built in the West to Ukraine.
Learn more. Poland justifies its choice to supply tanks built in the West to Ukraine.
Two civilians were killed when a Ukrainian missile struck the village of Przewodow, prompting Warsaw to request that Berlin transfer Patriot systems to Ukraine and place them along its western border. At first, Poland attributed the incident to Russia, which raised concerns about a potential worldwide clash between NATO and Moscow. However, Warsaw later asserted that Kiev’s military was probably responsible for firing it.

Germany suggested that the Patriot missiles be put in Poland instead of western Ukraine, where Poland wanted to put them. Germany said that the equipment was meant to protect NATO members, so it made sense to put it in Poland.

Ukraine will receive Leopard 2 tanks built in Germany, Polish President Andrzej Duda declared earlier this week. In addition to aiding Kiev’s military in their fight with Russia, according to Polish officials, this extraordinary action—which still needs Berlin’s approval—is also meant to put pressure on Warsaw’s allies to follow suit.

Germany has resisted sending main combat tanks thus far. Olaf Scholz, the chancellor, has maintained time and again that no other NATO nation has provided Ukraine with this kind of armament. Merkel underlined on Thursday that Berlin has not yet made a decision regarding Leopard 2 deliveries to Ukraine, adding that the best course of action would be to “rule out nothing.”