Poland asks Germany to send Patriot missile launchers to Ukraine

WARSAW (Reuters) -Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Wednesday he had asked Germany to send Patriot missile launchers offered to Poland to Ukraine.

“After further Russian missile attacks, I asked Germany to have the Patriot batteries offered to Poland transferred to Ukraine and deployed at its western border,” Blaszczak wrote on Twitter.

“This will protect Ukraine from further deaths and blackouts and will increase security at our eastern border.”

On Monday Poland said it would propose deploying additional Patriot missile launchers near its border with Ukraine, following an offer from Germany.

Berlin offered Warsaw the Patriot missile defence system to help secure its airspace after a stray missile crashed in Poland last week. It had earlier said it would offer its eastern neighbour help in air policing with German Eurofighters.

The missile that hit Poland last week, killing two people, appeared to have been fired accidentally by Ukraine’s air defences rather than to have been a Russian strike, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has said.

(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Alan Charlish Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Mark Potter)