Germany announces the readiness of its missiles to secure the NATO summit and announce it refusal to send cluster munitions to Ukraine

The German Air Force announced the readiness of Patriot air defense missiles to secure the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, four days before the start of the summit.

German news agency DPA learned that three German combat squadrons had informed NATO of their full readiness at 9:10 AM (local time), Friday.

The German Air Force provides protection through Patriot air defense systems and about 250 soldiers against ballistic missiles, as well as aircraft and cruise missiles.

The NATO takes this into account the escalating security situation, without there being any tangible indications of an attack.

Patriot missiles stationed at Vilnius Airport, which is about 160 km from Russia’s Kaliningrad region and 30 km from Belarus.

The summit of the Western military alliance begins next Tuesday and will last for two days.

On different topic, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stressed Friday that her country opposes sending cluster munitions to Ukraine, a day after US officials said Washington planned to supply Kiev with weapons widely condemned for killing and maiming civilians.

While human rights organizations oppose such a move, Baerbock said that Germany also opposes it, as it is among the 111 member states of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and the United States isn’t a party to the treaty.

When asked about what US officials said, she told reporters at a climate conference in Vienna, followed the media reports.

“For us as a state party to the Oslo Accords, the agreement applies in this case,” referring to the Cluster Munitions Convention, which was made available for signature in the Norwegian capital in 2008.

The Convention prohibits the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of cluster munitions.

This comes as the White House confirmed that sending cluster munitions to Ukraine actually being discussed, but there is nothing to be announced in this regard.

The US President Joe Biden scheduled to attend a NATO summit a few days later in Lithuania, and the war in Ukraine expected to dominate its discussions.

In addition, Human Rights Watch called on Russia and Ukraine to stop using cluster munitions, and urged the United States not to provide them, adding that the two countries’ forces had already used them, killing Ukrainian civilians.