Ukraine is asking its partners to urgently provide Patriot missiles
Ukraine has appealed to 40 partner countries, asking them to urgently supply missiles for the Patriot systems as early as July. The Ministry of Defense explains that stocks are running low, and these systems remain the primary means of defense against Russian ballistic missiles.
The ministry emphasizes that this is a temporary solution—they are requesting the missiles in exchange for future deliveries that have already been contracted for Ukraine.
Ukraine has appealed to 40 partner countries, requesting that they immediately provide missiles for the Patriot air defense systems. This was reported by the Ministry of Defense. The ministry explained that intercepting ballistic missiles remains one of the most difficult tasks for Ukraine’s air defense forces. “Shooting down ballistic missiles remains a key challenge due to a shortage of missiles for the Patriot systems,” the Ministry of Defense noted.
They recalled that in April, Ukraine signed a record-breaking contract for the first time to purchase hundreds of PAC-2 missiles for the Patriot system. The deal is being implemented with Germany’s support. However, the first deliveries under this contract are not expected until the coming years. In addition, Ukraine has for the first time begun purchasing about a hundred missiles for the Patriot system, worth approximately one billion dollars. Funding is provided through a European Union loan program.
Also this year, Ukraine began receiving Patriot missiles from the stockpiles of friendly nations for the first time. However, the Ministry of Defense acknowledges that current stockpiles are insufficient to protect the country from massive Russian attacks. “Nevertheless, this is not enough—Ukraine critically needs additional missiles for the Patriot systems. They are available in our partners’ stockpiles. And the protection of Ukraine’s airspace depends precisely on swift decisions, scaling up the PURL mechanism, and the procurement of missiles through JUMPSTART,” the ministry emphasized.
That is why Ukraine is asking its partners to transfer the necessary missiles as early as July in exchange for those that the countries will receive later under existing contracts. The Ministry of Defense emphasizes that a swift decision will help strengthen the defense of Ukraine’s airspace against ballistic strikes, which Russia regularly employs during massive attacks. This was reported by the Ministry of Defense.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine has not yet received some of the missiles for air defense systems that its partners had previously promised to supply. According to him, due to such delays, the country is losing the opportunity to better protect its people and civilian infrastructure from Russian attacks.
