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Producing Patriot missiles in Ukraine would carry significant risk considering Russia’s continued attacks.
Ukraine urgently needs interceptors to stop Russian ballistic missiles from battering its cities. Deadly strikes continue to devastate communities, leaving 14 people dead over a single weekend in late September.
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Donald Trump told him that he would grant Kyiv permission to produce its own Patriot air defense missiles, but that begs the question:
Where are the production facilities going to be built?
Poland suggests “safe territory”
To protect manufacturing from incoming fire, Polish officials suggested building a Patriot missile factory in Poland rather than inside Ukraine.
“We’ll see if that happens,” Poland’s Deputy Minister of National Defense Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka told local media, cited by the Kyiv Independent.
She added: “We proposed that if such a factory is planned to be built in Ukraine, we propose building it in Poland, so that it would be in so-called ‘safe territory.'”
Lavrov reacts
Moscow reacted quickly to the proposal, warning that expanded European involvement carries severe consequences.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pointed to Russia’s military doctrine on the matter and urged Western leaders to “study carefully the relevant section of this crucial document,” Russian news agency TASS reports.
It is unclear what section of the military doctrine Lavrov is referring to, but the doctrine identifies NATO’s military infrastructure as a threat and lists nuclear weapons, conventional precision weapons, and non-military measures to prevent conflicts and manage escalation.
