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Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party, welcomed a German offer of Patriot missile batteries for Poland but added the batteries would find better use in western Ukraine.
The German government offered Poland the Patriot system to help it secure its airspace after a stray missile crashed near the Polish village of Przewodów close to the Ukrainian border last week, killing two people.
“The proposal is certainly interesting (…) But personally, I believe that for the security of Poland it would be best if Germany handed the equipment to Ukrainians and trained Ukrainian teams under the condition that the batteries would be deployed in western Ukraine,”
Kaczyński told PAP (Polish Press Agency) on Wednesday.
Kaczyński argued that the modern Patriot air defence system from Germany, unlike the Soviet-era anti-aircraft systems that Ukraine uses, would be more effective in downing Russian missiles.
“On the other hand, this would protect us from such events as the one in Przewodów (…) At the same time, if the Russians decided to attack us, then it would offer protection for us as well,”
he said.
According to Kaczyński, such a solution would show “that what Germany is doing is a real policy change and not some act of propaganda.”