The US plans to halt some orders for Patriot missiles and give them to Ukraine instead: report

Thibault Spirlet
·2 min read
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The US plans to halt some orders for Patriot missiles and give them to Ukraine instead: report

  • The US plans to stop open orders for Patriot interceptor missiles, the Financial Times reported.

  • It aims to send them to Ukraine instead, leaving other countries to wait, per the FT.

  • Ukraine has repeatedly asked for more Patriot systems, but has only received a handful from its allies.

The US plans to halt open orders for the delivery of Patriot interceptor missiles and send them to Ukraine instead, the Financial Times reported, citing people with knowledge of the discussions.

According to the FT, President Joe Biden said countries expecting deliveries will have to wait because "everything we have is going to go to Ukraine until their needs are met."

The move is expected to be announced on Thursday, officials told the FT.

The US will be "re-sequencing deliveries" of air defense systems, including Patriots, "so interceptors rolling off the production line now are provided to Ukraine," an unnamed senior White House official told the outlet.

The official said the move shows the US' "commitment" to supporting partners when they're in "existential danger" but is also a message to Russia that "if they think they can outlast Ukraine in this war, they are mistaken," per the outlet.

Washington has briefed all affected countries privately, the FT reported.

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has received only a handful of Patriot missile systems from its allies.

The Netherlands, Germany, and the US have provided Ukraine with at least three, possibly five, Patriots systems — however, their precise number and deployment have not been disclosed.

Some Ukrainian allies have refused to send their own systems, like Greece, which says it needs them to protect its airspace.

According to unnamed senior military and administration officials who spoke to The New York Times last week, Biden approved the transfer of a second battery from the US earlier this month.

In April, Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, told The Washington Post that his team had identified more than 100 Patriot air-defense systems that its allies could spare.

The Patriot had a questionable reputation going into the conflict, but has performed extremely well in Ukraine, experts told BI in March, citing upgrades and operators' training.

Ukraine used one to down a prized Russian A-50 spy plane earlier this year, and it likely deployed several to take out two Russian planes in January, two analysts told BI at the time.

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