Agency Report –
Germany will provide Ukraine with additional IRIS-T guided missiles for air-defence systems at short notice, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius announced at a meeting at the US Ramstein Air Base in western Germany on Thursday.
The IRIS-T missiles had been ordered for the German military but will be sent to Ukraine instead to help repel relentless Russian air attacks, Pistorius said. He declined to say precisely how many missiles were being delivered.
“We are supplying Ukraine first before we replenish our stocks,” Pistorius said.
Germany will also send another 200 soldiers and two Patriot air-defence batteries to Poland in the coming weeks to protect a NATO logistics hub being used to move military aid to Ukraine.
The forces will remain in Poland under joint NATO command for an estimated six months, according to Pistorius.
The meeting in Ramstein has brought together officials from numerous countries that are supporting Ukraine in its battle against the Russian invasion, including US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also joined the meeting.
