"If Poland wants it": Berlin wants to help Warsaw secure airspace

Shortly after the fatal rocket hits, the Polish general staff made it clear: "No army has an air defense system that protects the entire territory of a country.

"If Poland wants it": Berlin wants to help Warsaw secure airspace

Shortly after the fatal rocket hits, the Polish general staff made it clear: "No army has an air defense system that protects the entire territory of a country." But in view of the dangers, Berlin is now offering the country help in securing the airspace.

After a rocket hit Poland near the Ukrainian border, Germany is offering to help the neighboring country secure its airspace. German Eurofighters could be deployed "as early as tomorrow," "if Poland so wishes," said a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Defense in Berlin. The jets would not have to be relocated to Poland for this, but could take off from German air force bases.

The ministry is already in contact with the Polish side, the spokesman said. Department head Christine Lambrecht will also personally seek talks with her Polish colleague over the course of the day and discuss the German offer.

According to the ministry spokesman, the patrol flights offered would take place in specified airspaces. There are always two machines traveling together per agreed airspace section.

The Polish General Staff had previously stated that the NATO country's missile defense system could not prevent deadly missile hits in Poland's border area. "No army has an air defense system that protects the entire territory of a country. A missile attack is characterized by hitting a selected target with pinpoint accuracy and not destroying multiple targets over large areas."

Two people were killed in a rocket attack in Poland on Tuesday in the village of Przewodow near the border with Ukraine. According to Polish President Andrzej Duda, it is very likely that the missile was a Ukrainian air defense missile. There is no indication of an attack on Poland.

The federal government did not want to comment on the question of where the rocket that hit Poland could have come from. The incident must now be carefully clarified, said Deputy Government Spokesman Wolfgang Büchner. The investigations were already "at full speed". However, Büchner emphasized that without the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and "yesterday's massive Russian rocket attacks" against civilian Ukrainian targets "this incident would not have happened".

Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder said in Brussels that according to information from the Belgian intelligence services, the impact was "triggered by Ukrainian air defense systems that were used to ward off Russian missiles."