POLAND COULD SEND MORE PATRIOT INTERCEPTORS WITHIN DAYS “BETTER TO SHOOT THEM DOWN OVER UKRAINE THAN POLAND”
Poland is moving closer to transferring another batch of Patriot interceptor missiles to Ukraine, with Deputy Defense Minister Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka saying a decision could come within days.
Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz is reportedly leaning toward approving the transfer, with Warsaw increasingly viewing Ukraine’s air defense as part of Poland’s own protection from Russian missiles. His position is straightforward: it is better for a Russian missile to be destroyed over Ukrainian territory than allowed to continue toward Poland.
Poland already transferred five Patriot interceptors to Ukraine earlier this year despite domestic political criticism.
The timing could hardly be more important. Zelenskyy says Ukraine currently has only a fraction of the PAC-3 interceptors it needs while Russia has roughly doubled its monthly ballistic-missile capacity. Kyiv recently asked Washington for 300 interceptors, and has separately pushed for the right to manufacture Patriot missiles itself.
That production effort remains uncertain, meaning missiles available right now matter enormously.
Poland appears increasingly willing to act on a reality NATO’s eastern members understand better than most:
Every Russian ballistic missile Ukraine destroys over its own territory is one that can never continue west toward Poland.