Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) wants to help Poland with a Patriot defense system after the missile hit. “We offered Poland support in securing the airspace – with our Eurofighters and with Patriot air defense systems. We are already in Slovakia with them – we want to extend our presence there until the end of 2023, possibly even beyond that,” said the minister to the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post” and the Bonn “General-Anzeiger” (Monday).
A rocket hit the Polish village of Przewodow, just six kilometers from the border with Ukraine. Two civilians died. Currently, the West assumes that it was a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile used to defend against attacks by the Russian military.
Immediately after the explosion, media reports also spoke of a Russian missile. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has so far maintained the claim that it was a Russian missile, but said he does not know with 100% certainty what happened.
Lambrecht said that as a consequence of this event, the alliance had to position itself even better in terms of air defense. This applies in particular to NATO partners such as Poland, Slovakia and the Baltic States, which directly border Russia and Ukraine.
According to Lambrecht, the Bundeswehr uses exceptions in European procurement law in order to obtain material more quickly. “We have to be faster in procurement. Order more of what’s available on the market and tried and tested by our partners, rather than spending years developing our own gold-edged solutions,” she said. “That’s why we are now using exceptions from European public procurement law,” she said. “In addition, orders under a value of 5000 euros can now be awarded privately, i.e. without a time-consuming tender.” This affects 20 percent of all orders from the Bundeswehr Procurement Office in Koblenz.
“The 100 billion euros alone will not do the trick,” said the minister. In response to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the Bundestag and Bundesrat decided on a special program worth 100 billion euros to equip an operational Bundeswehr. The money is to be used to purchase new aircraft, helicopters, ships, tanks and ammunition in the coming years.