It was noted there that Germany does not have free Patriot air defense systems that it could send, for example, to Ukraine.

Germany does not have Patriot air defense systems in its warehouses that it could send to Ukraine. Existing systems are part of NATO’s collective defense.

Thus, the State Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Tobias Lindner, explained in an interview with the Voice of America the refusal of the country’s government to supply these weapons to Ukraine.

It will be recalled that the defense ministers of Poland and Germany resumed negotiations on the placement of the Patriot air defense system on the territory of Poland. Before that, Warsaw offered to place them on the territory of western Ukraine, but Germany did not agree.

“To be very frank, it’s not like we have free Patriot systems just available that we could send, for example, to Ukraine. The Patriot systems that we are sending are part of the NATO collective defense system. Two days ago we agreed with Poland, that we are sending a military group there to study the location for the deployment of the Patriot system. We are committed to protecting the security of Poland, so we propose to deploy the Patriot systems on NATO’s eastern flank,” Lindner said.

In addition, the German official emphasized that his country is not ready to discuss Ukraine’s accession to NATO until the end of the war with the Russian Federation.

“The question of Ukraine joining NATO should be discussed after the war, not while Ukraine is fighting. To clarify, it is not about Russia, for example, being able to veto anything. Countries have the independent right to decide which alliances they join want to join. And it is the alliance’s independent right to decide whether to accept certain countries,” he explained Germany’s position.

At the same time, he said, Berlin is ready to support Ukraine as long as necessary.

“The German public supports the policy when it comes to helping Ukraine, there is also a broad consensus on general issues in the parliament… Therefore, I am absolutely convinced that we will support Ukraine as much as it will be needed – with humanitarian aid, in reconstruction, as well as military aid.” , – he noted.

Lindner also emphasized that the German government believes that Ukraine has the right to strike targets outside the country.

It will be recalled that at the beginning of the week there were explosions at several airfields in the Russian Federation, as a result of which military aircraft were damaged.

“I cannot make assumptions about what exactly happened and who it was, but the representative of our government, from a legal point of view, explained that during war there are also legitimate military objectives, and I must emphasize military objectives outside the Ukrainian territory , therefore, in Russia,” said Lindner.

The German government official also commented on French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement regarding security guarantees for the Russian Federation. According to him, Moscow already had all the guarantees it had refused.

“I don’t see any sign from Russia, no sign from Putin that he is willing to negotiate. What he calls negotiations is something like a dictated world. If you look at the NATO-Russia Founding Treaty, it makes clear, that countries can become members of NATO, but NATO will not deploy troops of a significant size on a permanent basis in these countries. So these were already certain guarantees of Russia’s security,” he said.

Transfer of Patriot systems to Ukraine

After a missile fell in the Polish village of Przewodów during the Russian attack on Ukraine in November, Germany offered Poland to transfer Patriot air defense systems to it.

Subsequently, the Polish Minister of Defense Mariusz Blaszczak made a proposal to place installations on the territory of Ukraine. This idea was supported by the Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki.

At the beginning of December, it became known that Germany wants to transfer 8 Patriot air defense units to Poland. Then Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak again called on Berlin to allow them to be stationed in Ukraine. And on December 6, Germany finally refused to transfer the Patriot air defense systems promised to Warsaw to Ukraine.