Senior Polish officials have responded to reports that the US will redeploy to Ukraine one of its Patriot air defence systems currently stationed in Poland.
President Andrzej Duda’s senior defence advisor has said he wants to discuss the issue further with his American counterpart. Meanwhile, a deputy defence minister has suggested that, if a Patriot battery is transferred out of Poland, it would be replaced by one from elsewhere.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the US transferred two of its Patriot batteries to Poland, where they have helped secure the airport in Rzeszów, which has become the main hub for aid for Ukraine and officials travelling in and out of the country.
Yesterday, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed American senior administration and military officials, that President Joe Biden has approved the transfer of a Patriot missile system to Ukraine from Poland, in order to help Kyiv protect itself from Russian attacks.
President Biden has approved the deployment of a second Patriot missile system to Ukraine, senior administration and military officials said, as the country struggles to fend off Russian attacks. https://t.co/ZNGKV2nQJM
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 11, 2024
This morning, the head of President Duda’s National Security Bureau (BBN), Jacek Siewiera, responded to the report by telling broadcaster Radio Zet that “American Patriots should not be transferred from Poland to Ukraine”.
“We are a key country for supplies to Ukraine and deterrence on NATO’s eastern flank,” said Siewiera. “Air defence is necessary here. I will want to discuss this with US Presidential [National Security] Advisor Jake Sullivan.”
Amerykańskie Patrioty nie powinny być przeniesione z Polski na Ukrainę. Jesteśmy kluczowym krajem dla dostaw na Ukrainę oraz odstraszania na flance wschodniej NATO. Obrona powietrzna jest tu konieczna. Będę chciał omówić to z doradcą prezydenta USA Jakiem Sullivanem.
Szef BBN… pic.twitter.com/jFDG7EIece
— BBN (@BBN_PL) June 13, 2024
Shortly afterwards, Polish deputy defence minister Cezary Tomczyk published a statement on X declaring that “in place of the American battery a battery from another part of the world will be brought”.
It was not immediately clear if Tomczyk meant that a US battery transferred from Poland to Ukraine would be replaced in Poland by one from elsewhere, or if he meant that one from elsewhere would be transferred to Ukraine instead of one from Poland.
“Poland did not agree to transfer a Polish battery,” added Tomczyk, appearing to refer to separate Patriot systems that Poland has been purchasing from the US and integrating into its own air defences. “Polish Patriots defend the Polish sky and this will not change.”
Na miejsce baterii amerykańskiej trafi bateria z innej części świata. Polska nie zgodziła się na przekazanie polskiej baterii. Polskie patrioty bronią polskiego nieba i to się nie zmieni. https://t.co/ppQ5wS2Ubs
— Cezary Tomczyk (@CTomczyk) June 13, 2024
In April this year, Duda responded to calls for European countries to transfer their Patriots to Ukraine by noting that Poland had only “just started the building of a [Patriot] system” and still “has nothing to give, even if we wanted to”.
In 2022, Germany offered to transfer some of its own Patriot air defence systems to Poland. The then Law and Justice (PiS) government, which has since left office, suggested that Berlin could instead send them to Ukraine.
However, that idea was rejected and the German Patriots were instead relocated to Poland as planned, though have since returned to Germany.
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Main image credit: NATO/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
