Germany is preparing to again deploy Patriot air-defence systems in Poland in order to protect supply routes to Ukraine, the Defence Ministry said in Berlin on Thursday.
The mission by the German armed forces, or Bundeswehr, is set to commence in January and is expected to last six months.
“We will thereby protect a logistical hub in Poland that is of central importance for the delivery of material to Ukraine,” Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said.
The deployment will help to secure the supply of vehicles, weapons and ammunition that Ukraine urgently needs to fend off the Russian invasion, Pistorius said.
His Polish counterpart Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said on X that Poland welcomes the decision.
The plan involves temporarily stationing soldiers and weapon systems in the Rzeszów area in south-eastern Poland, with preparatory reconnaissance set to begin in the coming days.
German Patriot deployment squadrons were previously operational in Poland from January to November 2023.
Around 320 Bundeswehr personnel operated three Patriot systems at two locations near Zamość, 33 kilometres west of the Ukrainian border, to protect the country’s airspace after a missile strike in a Polish village near the border killed two people in late 2022.
Poland, an EU and NATO member, is a significant political and military ally of neighbouring Ukraine, which is under attack from Russia.
The country serves as a crucial logistics hub for Western military aid to Kiev.
Central to this transport of military goods is the airport near Rzeszów, currently protected by US Patriot units and housing US soldiers.
Additionally, the goods railway line number 65, constructed in Soviet gauge during Poland’s communist era, runs through Zamość to Poland’s border with Ukraine, which uses the same gauge – facilitating the eastward transport of heavy weapons.
The planned renewed stationing of German Patriot systems is not a response to an immediate change in the security situation. Military facilities in the region have been protected for some time against potential attacks.
The Bundeswehr’s Patriot systems are among the most advanced globally, capable of combating enemy aircraft, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.
Their defence missiles can strike targets at distances of about 100 kilometres and altitudes up to 30 kilometres, depending on the guided missile employed.
