London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Poland plays politics with German Patriot missile offer

Poland plays politics with German Patriot missile offer

With elections in sight, Warsaw’s nationalist government is scoring points off what seemed a straightforward offer from Berlin.

Germany thought it was doing its ally a favor when it offered to send Patriot anti-missile systems to Poland after the country was hit with a missile that crossed from Ukraine.

Instead, Warsaw has responded with dramatic shifts in policy, leavened with a steady stream of insults hurled at Berlin — seen as part of the nationalist ruling party’s effort to gin up anti-German feelings ahead of next year’s parliamentary election. So far, no German air defense systems have arrived.

That wasn’t the original idea.

On November 15, a missile hit the Polish border village of Przewodów, killing two. It was determined to be an errant Ukrainian air defense missile trying to knock down a barrage of Russian rockets. The first deaths in a NATO and EU member country from the war in Ukraine prompted a hard look at Poland’s air defenses.

Berlin last week offered two Patriot batteries — a U.S.-made surface-to-air system that costs about $1 billion per battery — as well as help in policing Polish skies with German Eurofighter jets. 

The initial response from Warsaw was straightforwardly enthusiastic.

“I accepted with satisfaction the proposal of the German minister of defense regarding the deployment of additional Patriot missile launchers in our country,” Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said in a tweet

“I will propose that the system be stationed on the border with Ukraine,” Błaszczak added.


Not so fast


Then Jarosław Kaczyński, the chairman of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and the country’s de facto leader, waded in. 

Two days after Błaszczak’s initial response, Kaczyński  told the state-owned Polish Press Agency: “It would be better for the security of Poland if Germans offered the equipment to Ukrainians.”

Błaszczak followed suit a few hours later in a tweet that U-turned on his original response, saying the message to Berlin was now “that the proposed Patriot batteries be transferred to Ukraine and deployed at its western border.”

Dumbfounded German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said on November 24 that “Patriots are an element of NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense, which means they are to be deployed on NATO territory.”

On November 15 2022, a missile hit the Polish border village of Przewodów, killing two people


The batteries are staffed by German troops, so sending them to Ukraine would open the risk of NATO soldiers coming under Russian attack, Thomas Bagger, German ambassador in Warsaw, told private broadcaster TVN24.

“These batteries could be on the eastern border of Poland, and therefore on the eastern flank of the alliance, within a few days, maybe even within a few weeks, it could happen very quickly. But the talk of redeployment to Ukraine is a completely different matter,” Bagger said.

Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO chief, said he “welcomed” Germany’s offer, but where to deploy a system “remains a national decision.”

Kaczyński responded by questioning Germany’s credentials as a NATO ally.

“Germany’s attitude so far gives no reason to believe that they will decide to intercept Russian missiles,” Kaczyński told a press briefing on Monday.

He also said that German Patriots in Poland would be an “esthetic choice” without “military or political importance.”

That’s not true, said retired army General Stanisław Koziej, the former chief of Poland’s National Security Bureau.

“It’s obvious that the more means of air defense there are, the more secure Polish airspace is,” Koziej told POLITICO.

Poland is in the process of deploying Patriots it purchased from the U.S. a few years ago, and Koziej said launchers from Germany would give the country’s anti-missile defense an extra boost.

“We have anti-aircraft defenses but anti-missile systems are not quite there yet,” he said. 


Playing politics


But PiS and Kaczyński are playing at more than bolstering air defenses, said Anna Siewierska-Chmaj, a political scientist from the University of Rzeszów.

The party is trying to boost its opinion poll rankings by using Germany as a convenient punch bag — demanding that Berlin pay eye-watering reparations for World War II damage, accusing Germany of siding with Brussels in the rule of law dispute that has seen the EU withhold recovery fund payments to Poland, and being in cahoots with Polish opposition parties, especially former Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

“That’s the real goal of Mr. Donald Tusk: to make Poland dependent on Germany” said Antoni Macierewicz, a former PiS defense minister


“That’s the real goal of Mr. Donald Tusk: to make Poland dependent on Germany, to make Poland dependent on German structures and decisions, including command decisions,” said Antoni Macierewicz, a former PiS defense minister.

Siewierska-Chmaj observed the game was clear: “PiS knows well what resonates with their core voters.”

It’s fertile ground for PiS. A poll conducted last month by state-owned agency CBOS found that a record 31 percent of Poles surveyed felt relations with Germany were “bad.”

“Going anti-German may not give PiS new voters but at least it stops voters from leaving,” Siewierska-Chmaj added.

After a week of back-and-forth among Poland, Germany, and NATO, there’s not much light on Poland’s position.

“If for various political reasons such a deployment is not possible, for example because of Germany’s position, then Poland should not give up these missiles completely,” Paweł Szrot, the head of President Andrzej Duda’s office, said on Tuesday.

But Błaszczak said Wednesday he’s still lobbying Lambrecht to send the batteries to Ukraine. “I’m counting on approval,” he said.

Despite the rebuffs from its mercurial neighbor, Germany says the Patriots are still there for the taking.

“Our offer to the Polish government to protect their own country is not yet off the table,” Scholz told reporters during a news conference in Berlin.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
×