Germany has offered to re-deploy Patriot air defence systems to NATO ally Poland at the start of the new year, the German defence ministry said on Thursday.

The units could be deployed for up to six months, the ministry said in a statement.

“With this we will protect a logistical hub in Poland which is of central importance for the delivery of materials to Ukraine,” German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said.

His Polish counterpart Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said in a post on social media platform X that Warsaw welcomed the decision.

Germany previously deployed 300 troops along with three Patriot units to Poland from January to November 2022.

They were based in the town of Zamosc, about 50 km (31 miles) from the Ukrainian border, to protect the southern town and its crucial railway link to Ukraine.

The deployment was triggered by a stray Ukrainian missile that struck the Polish village of Przewodow in November 2022, in an incident that raised fears of the war in Ukraine spilling over the border.