Podolyak: Air defense is not about escalation, but about protecting civilians from missiles
He said this in a post on Twitter, Ukrinform reports.
"'Patriot system' and 'escalation' – words that cannot be in the same sentence. Air defense is not about offensives, but about protecting children and civilians from missiles," Podolyak said.
"A wise initiative by Poland. Correct words of the NATO Secretary General. Waiting for Germany's decision," he wrote.
Germany last Monday offered Poland to deploy Patriot surface-to-air missile systems on the Polish-Ukrainian border after a missile incident on Polish soil. Poland, for its part, offered to deploy the systems on the Ukrainian side of the border.
German government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann said that the German side was discussing with its allies Poland's initiative to transfer Patriot systems to Ukraine.
