NATO members bordering Ukraine should consider additional air defence systems, warns Lithuanian Foreign Minist
Patriot air defense systems, which Germany offered to Poland after the missile incident (Photo:MissGarfield/Flickr)
NATO members who share a border with Ukraine should think about deploying additional air defense systems, Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs said on Lithuanian television on Nov. 22, while commenting on a recent rogue missile strike in Poland.
The minister stressed the incident would have never happened if Russia hadn't invaded Ukraine. Still, it is the reason for the alliance to consider the necessity of additional air defense.
As for Lithuania, the government has discussed the issue and allocated additional funding for this purpose, he stated.
During a massive Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s infrastructure systems on Nov. 15, a missile fell near the village of Przewodów in the Lublin district of Poland about 7 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, killing two people.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki convened an urgent meeting of Poland’s National Security and Defense Affairs committee to consider the possible intentional attack and the means to respond to it.
Polish President Andrzej Duda later said there was no evidence of an intent attack against Poland and the missile could have been fired by Ukrainian air defenses to intercept incoming Russian cruise missiles inbound at targets near Poland’s border.
On Nov. 20, Mateusz Morawiecki said it was still unclear who had launched the missile.
The White House said it had no reason to doubt Poland’s preliminary findings, but stressed that Russia bears full responsibility for the deaths of two Polish citizens, regardless of the results of the investigation.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that, according to the Ukrainian military, the missile that fell in Poland wasn't launched by them. Ukrainian experts were allowed to the site on Nov. 17.
Following the incident, Germany offered Poland the Patriot missile defense system to help it to secure its airspace amid the full-scale Russian war in Ukraine.
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