Germany said on Thursday it had offered NATO to deploy Patriot air defense systems to Poland from January to help protect weapons supply lines to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said this would help protect a logistics hub and "secure the supply of vehicles, weapons and ammunition that Ukraine urgently needs to defend itself against the brutal Russian attacks that violate international law".
Support teams should be available to send to Poland from January 2025 and the systems could be deployed for up to six months, the defense ministry said.
"We are currently coordinating the exact details of the relocation with Poland, other allies and NATO in Brussels," the defense ministry said.
Pistorius said that the deployment would mean that "together with our Polish friends, we are also securing NATO airspace, as we did last year".
Berlin previously sent three Patriot units to eastern Poland in 2023 after a Polish village suffered a deadly blast, believed to be from a stray Ukrainian air defense missile.
That deployment ended in November 2023.
The US-made Patriot air defense systems can be used to combat enemy missiles and aircraft.
Germany had 36 of the systems during the Cold War but the number has fallen in recent years.
Berlin has donated three Patriot systems to Ukraine, which has faced repeated Russian missile barrages and drone attacks targeting its infrastructure.
Poland, a member of the European Union and NATO, is one of Ukraine's closest allies and serves as a crucial logistics hub for Western military aid to Kiev.
With AFP
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