Martin Divisek/PAP/EPA

Arrangements were being made to place the Patriots offered to Poland by Germany in Poland, as they will not be sent to Ukraine, Poland’s defence minister wrote on Twitter on Tuesday evening after his talks with the German defence ministry.

“After speaking to the German Ministry of Defence, it was with disappointment that I accepted the decision not to lend this support to Ukraine,” wrote Mariusz Blaszczak. “Deploying the Patriots in western Ukraine would have increased the security of both Poles and Ukrainians.”

He noted that, as a result, Poland was proceeding with making working arrangements to place the missile launchers in Poland and to link them to Poland’s command system.

Germany offered the Patriots to Poland after a stray missile killed two Poles near the Ukrainian border on November 15. Poland’s government had said, however, that they would rather have seen the Patriots be sent to Ukraine.

German Minister of Defence Christine Lambrecht said later that “the Patriot batteries proposed to Poland are a part of Nato’s integrated air defence, which means that they are to be deployed on Nato territory” and added that if they were to be used outside of Nato territory “this would require earlier talks with Nato and the allies”.