On September 9, according to TASS, Ukrainian Defense Minister Yevgeny Khmara said that Kiev is signing contracts to purchase about 1,000 Patriot missiles with capital from loans from the European Union (EU).
With the support of partners and through EU loans, we are signing contracts to purchase about 1,000 Patriot missiles," Mr. Khmara said at a meeting of the Ukrainian Defense Liaison Group, also known as the Ramstein Group.
According to sources, Minister Khmara said that most of the missiles in these contracts will begin to be delivered in the coming years. Therefore, Kiev is asking partner countries to supply missiles from the stockpile immediately in the current time.
We call on you to transfer missiles from the reserves in exchange for improved missiles in the future, which will be supplied under our contracts," Mr. Khmara said.
According to the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Kiev needs partners to provide 300 Patriot missiles, 500 air-to-air missiles, portable air defense systems and 2 billion USD to finance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Mr. Khmara also said that Ukraine is lacking 27 billion USD in its defense budget and called on partners to make "necessary financial decisions".
Previously, on September 8, EU member states agreed to allow Ukraine to buy interceptor missiles for the Patriot air defense system using funds from a loan of 90 billion euros (about 104.6 billion USD) from the EU.
According to the program's regulations, the main source of money is prioritized for purchasing weapons from European defense companies. However, US-made Patriot interceptor missiles are outside this group, causing Kiev to request an exceptional mechanism to use the loan for the deal.
Ukraine's attempt to sign a long-term contract while simultaneously asking partners to transfer missiles from stockpiles shows that the need for additional interceptor missiles is being raised in the short term, while the supply under new contracts cannot be met immediately.
