Germany does not have its own Patriot air defense systems and therefore cannot send them to Ukraine on its own.

They are an integral part of NATO's collective defense and can be located only on the territory of the member states of the Alliance.

State Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany Tobias Lindner said this in an interview with "Voice of America".

According to him, this is the main reason for the country's government's refusal to supply these weapons to Ukraine.

"The Patriot systems we are sending are part of NATO's collective defense system. Two days ago, we agreed with Poland that we are sending a group of troops there to study the locations for the deployment of the Patriot system. We are committed to protecting the security of Poland, so we propose to deploy the Patriot systems in the eastern NATO flank," Lindner said.

The German minister also emphasized that his country will support Ukraine as much as it needs - with humanitarian aid, reconstruction, and weapons.

Among the military aid that Germany has already provided to Ukraine are IRIS-T SLM air defense missiles, 5 MARS II rocket launchers with ammunition, 14 Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzers (a joint project with the Netherlands).

In addition, the German government believes that Ukraine has the right to strike military targets outside the country during this war. 

At the same time, Germany is not ready to discuss Ukraine's accession to NATO until the end of the war with Russia.

"The issue of Ukraine joining NATO should be discussed after the war, not while Ukraine is fighting. It is not about the fact that Russia, for example, can impose a veto. Countries have an independent right to decide which alliances they want to join. And this is an independent right alliance to decide whether to accept certain countries or not," he explained Germany's position.

It will be recalled that the Minister of Defense of Poland, Mariusz Blaszczak, announced that Germany refused to hand over Patriot systems to Ukraine.

These installations will be deployed in Poland. 

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