As Germany’s Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius announced today on the fringes of the 25th UDCG meeting at the Ramstein Air Base, Germany will play a key role in protecting the logistical hub in Poland which is absolutely essential for Ukraine’s defence against the Russian aggression.
The German Press Agency reported on such plans as early as November 2024, whereupon the German Ministry of Defence already felt compelled to mostly confirm the media reports shortly afterwards, saying that they offered German forces to protect the Polish airspace. Now all the details are official.
From the end of January 2025, two MIM-104 Patriot fire units and a total of 200 Bundeswehr soldiers are to be deployed to Poland for an estimated six months.
This means that German forces with this task are returning to Poland after a break of more than a year, as they were already temporarily deployed to Zamość following the impact of what was probably a Ukrainian air defence missile on the 15th of November 2022, which resulted in two killed Polish citizens.
Germany is thus following Norway, which already stationed own soldiers who operate a NASAMS fire unit (comparable to IRIS-T SLM) and four F-35 fighter jets at the Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport in December 2024.
In addition to protecting the deliveries of military equipment to Ukraine on the Polish side with advanced air defence systems, the German Luftwaffe will also perform a new logistical task.
According to Pistorius, the Luftwaffe will provide an Airbus A330 for the entire year to take on aerial refuelling tasks.
As a result, at the beginning of 2025 and shortly before the elections in Germany, the Bundeswehr is taking on new responsibilities within NATO to secure the defence of Ukraine.
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