While Germany may be ready to send its Patriot air defense missile system to Poland, this equipment will not be incorporated into Poland’s command system but instead operated by the German side. This means that only Germany could decide if they respond to a potential attack from Russia and destroy a Russian missile, conservative portal wPolityce.pl assessed.
The sources cited by the portal stressed that those air-defense systems would not guarantee operational security and the risk of chaos would be increased significantly,
Poland proposed that the systems are deployed in Ukraine, as this would contribute to air security over both Poland and Ukraine. It is particularly important while the Russians are targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which could possibly spark another wave of refugees, and also deprive Ukrainians of heat, electricity, food, and work
A transfer of the Patriot systems to Ukraine could also mitigate the risk of NATO being accused of direct involvement in the conflict with Russia if a missile is shot down over Ukraine from Ukrainian territory.
There have also been claims that Ukrainian forces cannot operate such high-tech equipment, but wPolityce argues that this is untrue, and currently many modern systems are being used there, including U.S. HIMAR systems and advanced British equipment.
The portal further writes that while training Ukrainian crews could take a while, the prospect of the conflict ending soon is unlikely, which justifies such an effort.
In summary, in-depth analyses have proven that donating Patriots to Ukraine in the current situation is the best option to increase Poland’s security.
