The German government has announced the immediate delivery of another unit of the Patriot air defense system to Ukraine. The reason was the intensification of Russian missile attacks.
Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the Ukrainian government is trying to negotiate with partners to provide us with additional batteries for the Patriot.
However, he noted that everything depends on the United States because this is a US-made air defense system. At the same time, it is important that Germany transfer the entire system to Ukraine, not just one battery.
The German government has announced that it will immediately hand over another Patriot air defense system to Ukraine to repel Russian attacks. It is noted that it will be delivered in addition to the air defense systems that have already been delivered to Ukraine and are still planned for delivery.
Immediately after the announcement by the German government, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that he had spoken with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The President of Ukraine thanked the politician for the decision to supply another additional Patriot system to Ukraine and missiles to the existing air defense systems.
“Thank you, Olaf, for your leadership! This is a real manifestation of our support for Ukraine at a critical time for us. I call on all other leaders of partner countries to follow suit,” Zelenskyy emphasized.
The Ukrainian leader added that he and his counterpart also discussed preparations for the upcoming conference on rebuilding Ukraine, which will take place in Berlin. In addition, Zelenskyy spoke about preparations for the inaugural Peace Summit in Switzerland in June.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, in an interview with The Washington Post noted that our country has already found 100 spare batteries for Patriot. Ukraine hopes that it will be able to agree on the supply of seven batteries as soon as possible.
Mr. Kuleba stated that he and Ukraine are grateful for the security aid that partners nations have already provided, but the minister talked about frustrations over the limits of the Western continued assistance to Kyiv while Russian war aggression intensifies.
The Ukrainian minister emphasized that Ukraine is ready to lease the Patriot system and return it as soon as it is needed. Mr. Kuleba also added that he does not believe that the United States has any extra batteries that could be transferred to Ukraine.
In addition, last week, the European Parliament refused to make a decision on funding for the EU Council. They stated that this will continue until Ukraine receives the Patriot system. We are talking about 7 batteries, which Dmytro Kuleba mentioned.
In recent weeks, Russian troops have intensified missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy facilities and critical infrastructure. In particular, the Russians destroyed several Ukrainian thermal power plants. Ukraine does not have enough modern air defense systems to protect all cities and critical infrastructure from Russian air attacks.
