Ukraine and United States are Preparing Deal for Purchase of 25 Patriot Air Defense Systems
Ukraine and the US are preparing a contract for the purchase of 25 Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems.
According to Ukrinform, citing President Volodymyr Zelensky, discussions took place during meetings with U.S. government officials and defense industry representatives.
The talks focused on the potential delivery of additional Patriot systems to bolster Ukraine’s air defense capabilities.
Zelensky emphasized that the request for the 25 Patriot systems came from the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“We are preparing a contract for 25 Patriot systems. I believe this is a very positive development — challenging, but long-term,” Zelensky said.
According to the president, many countries have already signed contracts to produce these systems, but Ukraine hopes to receive priority due to political agreements.
“We will receive these 25 systems annually, with varying numbers each year. The White House can change the order if there is political will. We understand which European countries can grant us this priority. There is a lot of positive momentum on this issue — we are currently working to secure the necessary decisions,” said Zelensky.
The President also noted that funding for the Patriot systems contract will come from frozen Russian assets and bilateral security agreements.
“The number one source of funds is money from the use of frozen Russian assets. The financial basis for this agreement has already been established. We also have 28 bilateral security agreements with countries through which additional funding can be found and advance payments can be made,” Zelensky explained.
According to publicly available information, Ukraine currently has approximately six Patriot batteries. These batteries can effectively intercept cruise missiles, drones, and ballistic missiles, such as the Iskander and the hypersonic Kinzhal missiles launched from MiG-31K aircraft.
In addition to this potential contract, Ukraine is receiving Patriot systems from Israel and Germany, as well as individual system components from the Netherlands.
Militarnyi previously reported that, in cooperation with other partner countries, Germany would facilitate the delivery of five Patriot air defense batteries to Ukraine.
