Rostock, Germany, 23 January 2023 (dpa/MIA) – The German armed forces, or Bundeswehr, have begun moving the first two of the three promised Patriot anti-aircraft missile squadrons from Germany to Poland.

Three convoys with 40 vehicles and 150 soldiers set off from Gnoien in eastern Germany on Monday, with a third set to follow in the next few days.

The air defence systems are expected to be delivered near the city of Zamość in south-eastern Poland by Wednesday afternoon.

Bundeswehr soldiers have been stationed in Poland since January 16 to ensure the safe delivery of the systems.

“Patriot is a purely defensive system,” said the head of the German forces in Poland, Colonel Jörg Sievers.

The aim, he said, is to protect NATO airspace as well as Poland’s territory, infrastructure and population.

The mission is initially limited to six months.

Poland’s neighbour Ukraine has been at war with Russia since it invaded in February 2022.

After a missile strike on Polish territory in November, the then defence minister Christine Lambrecht and her Polish counterpart Mariusz Błaszczak agreed that German Patriot missile defence systems would be deployed to Poland.

Sievers recalled that two Polish citizens were killed during the misfire. It is hoped that such accidents would be prevented in the future with the Patriots.