In addition to anti-aircraft missiles, Ukraine says it also urgently needs additional anti-aircraft systems, preferably Patriot systems. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, his country needs at least 7. “They can save lives, and they should,” he told members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a group of about 50 countries that meets regularly to discuss support for Ukraine.
Ukraine currently has 3, offered by Germany and the United States. Germany recently announced that it would provide it with an additional system.
But the additional systems will not come from the United States, Austin explained, because there is no place for them. Therefore, Ukraine is mainly looking to European countries that have a lot of them in stock. But countries like Spain and Greece, which have many of these weapons, want to keep them for self-defense.
Austin said yesterday that the United States is working with its allies to find a solution. The US minister is said to have had several conversations about this with his European colleagues, a number of whom said they would have to “accept more risks.”
At the same time, he stressed that the West and Ukraine should not focus on Patriot systems. “They also need other systems.”
