Poland accepts a German offer to install Patriot missile batteries on its territory
Warsaw announced its acceptance of the offer made by Berlin two weeks ago to install Patriot missile batteries in Poland, after the Polish government had rejected this offer and proposed to its German counterpart to send this defense system to Ukraine.
"The installation of Patriot missiles in western Ukraine would have strengthened the security of Poles and Ukrainians alike," Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said in a tweet. "From here, we make practical decisions about where to install the batteries in Poland and link them to our command system."
On November 21, Germany offered Poland to provide it with Patriot missiles to install these American-made batteries in its eastern border regions with Ukraine.
The German offer came after two people were killed in a Polish village near the Ukrainian border by a missile that Warsaw and NATO said were fired by Ukrainian air defenses to counter Russian air strikes.
Initially, the Polish Minister of Defense received the German offer positively, before changing his mind and proposing to Berlin to provide Ukraine with this defense system.
Germany responded to the Polish minister's proposal by saying that this issue should be discussed within the framework of NATO, but NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the decision is up to Berlin.
NATO countries have so far sent billions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine to help it confront Russia, including modern air defense systems.
The United States and other countries in the alliance have so far avoided providing Ukraine with "Patriot" batteries, which are an essential tool for the alliance's air defenses in its eastern wing.
Washington previously deployed Patriot missiles in Poland, while Berlin deployed them in Slovakia.
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