Mariusz Błaszczak made the declaration in an interview with public broadcaster Polish Radio on Thursday, the state news agency PAP reported.
It came after the Reuters news agency reported earlier this week that Germany had offered to prolong the presence of its Patriot air-defence missiles in Poland until the end of the year.
The defence minister told Polish Radio that Poland would accept the offer.
Błaszczak said: “We discussed this during German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius’ visit to Poland. By that time, we’ll be ready to integrate Poland’s own Patriot batteries into our country’s anti-aircraft and anti-missile defence system.”
The defence minister stressed that Poland was developing a multi-layer air defence system, as part of expanding its army, “in cooperation with the United States, when it comes to the Patriot batteries, and with Britain, when it comes to the CAMM missiles.”
German Patriots for Poland
Germany offered to provide a Patriot air defence system to Poland after a stray Ukrainian air-defence missile struck a village in southeastern Poland in November, killing two people, public broadcaster Polish Radio's IAR news agency reported.
It said Poland initially called for the weapons to be sent to Ukraine instead before it eventually accepted Berlin’s offer.
In January, a Patriot air defence system provided by Germany to bolster NATO’s eastern flank arrived in Poland to be stationed in the eastern Lubelskie province, some 60 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, news outlets reported at the time.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Thursday is day 533 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
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Source: PAP, wnp.pl