Polish Defense Minister Blaszczak insists on transferring Patriot to Ukraine: Systems in Poland won’t have time to shoot down missiles near border like Przewodów
Deployment of Patriot missile defense systems in Ukraine is also beneficial for southeast Poland’s security.
This was stated by Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak during his visit to NATO exercise "Tumak 22" near the Polish-Belarusian and Polish-Russian border, informs country's Ministry of Defense, reports Censor.NЕТ referring to LeagueBusinessInform.
"The deployment of German Patriot launchers in Ukraine is beneficial for the South-East security of our country; because missile security in the East of Ukraine also means security in the East of Poland," said Blaszczak.
He reasoned this by the necessary reaction time to an enemy missile.
"It's all about reaction time. "Patriots" deployed in the east of Poland will be able to shoot down missiles that cross the Polish border, but the tragic event that took place on November 15 happened only a few kilometers from the Ukrainian border. This missile reached Polish territory in a few seconds. This time is not enough to effectively shoot it down," the Polish Defense Minister explained.
The second reason in favor of deploying Patriot missile defense in Ukraine, Blaszczak said, is the possibility to interpret the shooting down of a Russian missile over Ukrainian territory by the Polish military as Poland's entry into the war.
"Shooting down such a missile over Ukrainian territory would mean Poland's entry into the war, and we do not want this. The deployment of Patriots in western Ukraine increases the security of both western Ukraine and Poland," the head of the Allied Defense Ministry stressed.
The third reason in favor of the transfer of Patriot missile defense to Kyiv Blaszczak called the possibility of blackout in Ukraine due to the lack of anti-missile systems and, as a result, the increase in Ukrainian refugees to Europe.
"Intensive rocket attacks on Ukrainian power plants... cause lack of access to electricity. As a result, it will cause another wave of refugees in the winter, and from the point of view of both the security of Ukraine and the security of Poland and the whole of Europe, it is better that the next wave of refugees does not happen," he explained.
Fourthly, Blaszczak disagreed with the argument that Patriot missile defense is allegedly "too technological" for Ukraine.
"German Patriots are an old version, from the 1980s, so we cannot say that they are technological... Ukraine has already received equipment that is much more technologically advanced than the German Patriot - I mean HIMARS systems," the Polish Defense Minister said.
