There are growing signs that NATO fears that Vladimir Putin’s criminal invasion of a non-threatening neighbor is on the verge of spilling over into the territory of NATO member states.

On Tuesday, the United States announced it was deploying two Patriot air defense batteries to Poland. A Patriot battery is the basic unit of organization for the weapon system (or any Army artillery system for that matter), and it consists of a phased array radar, an engagement control station, computers, power generating equipment, and up to eight launchers, each of which holds four, ready-to-fire missiles.

“This defensive deployment is being conducted proactively to counter any potential threat to U.S. and Allied forces and NATO territory,” U.S. European Command said in a statement.

Poland has been critical both to Ukrainians fleeing the country and those defending the nation since Russia invaded 13 days ago. Poland, a NATO and EU member, has over a million refugees from Ukraine and has become a major staging area for arms going into the country.

Poland borders Ukraine and the Russian satellite state of Belarus, and has not been squeamish about letting everyone know where its sympathies lie. Unlike many in safer locations, Poland is well aware of the dangers of having a rapacious neighbor unconstrained by the law of nations or basic humanity, and it understands the threat it faces should Putin succeed in absorbing Ukraine or turning it into a “neutral” puppet state. Quite honestly, Poland probably needs to feel like someone in Washington gives a rat’s ass about its security, given the utter debacle that the proposed transfer of MiG-29s to Ukraine turned out to be (Biden Junta Duplicity Revealed After Poland Declares MiGs for Ukraine Are Ready to Go).

The US deployment is obviously more than a one-off to ease the nerves of the Poles. Both Germany and Slovakia have announced plans to move Patriot missiles to Slovakia. Like Poland, Slovakia borders Ukraine, and it has been open about arming the Ukrainian military. Moreover, Slovakia was part of the abortive MiG deal.

As the Russian army continues to get mauled and humiliated in Ukraine, it becomes increasingly difficult to see how Putin lets the West providing arms to Ukraine slide. It would be most out of character if he accepts it (just as the US has accepted Russia arming proxies that have killed young Americans since 1950). One can make the case that punishing NATO for running up the costs of his Ukrainian adventure may be an existential matter for the KGB thug in the Kremlin. It seems as though NATO is anticipating some sort of Russian missile attack against one or both of those countries at some point.