Polish defense minister fends off criticism over sending Patriot missiles to Ukraine
on Google
Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz on July 9 defended his government's decision to send Patriot missiles to Ukraine, calling the move an investment in Poland's own security.
"I'd rather those missiles intercept projectiles over Ukraine than have Russian missiles ever reach Poland," the defense minister said in an interview with the TVN24 television channel.
The Polish government confirmed earlier this week that it had provided Ukraine with Patriot interceptors, a weapon Ukraine sorely needs to fend off escalating Russian ballistic missile attacks.
The confirmation came after Krzysztof Bosak, a co-leader of the far-right and Ukraine-skeptic Confederation party, said on July 4 that the government had secretly sent the valuable missiles to Ukraine in March.
The government reacted by disclosing the list of the military aid provided to Ukraine since the outbreak of the full-scale war in 2022. According to Kosiniak-Kamysz, Warsaw sent "several" Patriot interceptors to Ukraine at the request of the U.S. and NATO.
The Polish magazine Defense24 reported that the shipment concerned five PAC-3 missiles. Russia often deploys dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles during a single mass aerial attack.
Marcin Przydacz, a top aide of Poland's conservative president, Karol Nawrocki, lambasted the government for carrying out the secret transfer while simultaneously "scaremongering" about the Russian threat to Poland.
"Is this betrayal or stupidity?" the official asked on X.
Mariusz Blaszczak, a Polish defense minister for the opposition right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party between 2018 and 2023, joined the criticism, claiming the move undermines Poland's own security.
Kosiniak-Kamysz accused the PiS of hypocrisy, noting that the PiS government itself had supplied Ukraine with significant military hardware during its tenure. He also claimed that Nawrocki was aware of the transfer.
The news comes amid a diplomatic dispute between Ukraine and Poland that broke out after President Volodymyr Zelensky named a military unit in honor of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).
The UPA fought for Ukraine's independence against the Soviet Union during and after World War II. In Poland, however, the group is remembered for the Volyn massacres, mass killings of Poles in what is today western Ukraine, then under Nazi occupation.
