Polish president says Patriot missiles should be based in Poland

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Polish president says Patriot missiles should be based in Poland

According to the Polish president Andrzej Duda, the Polish president said that the Patriot missiles offered by Germany to Poland should be based in Poland and not given to Ukraine as suggested by the defence minister.

Pawel Szrot, who heads the president's office, said Duda believed the Patriots should be used to protect Poland.

President Duda's position is quite clear - if Germany decides to give access to the Patriot systems it has in its arsenal, then these missiles should defend Polish territory and Polish citizens, Szrot said on Polish Radio.

On Sunday, Christine Lambrecht, the German defence minister, offered to transfer some of Germany's Patriot missile systems to Poland after a stray air-defence missile, believed to be Ukrainian, killed two Poles when it crashed in eastern Poland last week.

Lambrecht suggested German Air Force fighters could help patrol Polish airspace.

In response, Poland's defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak said Germany should give the Patriot batteries to Ukraine.