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President Joe Biden’s administration plans to halt all open orders for MIM-104 Patriot long-range air defense systems and interceptor missiles and redirect supply to Ukraine until its defense needs are met, The Financial Times reported on June 20. .
The move could be announced by Washington as early as June 20, the report said, citing three people with knowledge of the decision.
Last year, Ukraine received two Patriot batteries and two launchers from Germany and another battery from the United States with two additional launchers donated by the Netherlands. Most of these systems have already been damaged or destroyed by the Russian military.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said recently that Ukraine needs 25 Patriots to cover the entire country, but his Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that he is for now focused on securing just seven systems to protect only the largest cities in the country.
In response to these Ukrainian demands, Germany confirmed last month that it will supply a third Patriot system to Kiev forces. Around the same time, Spain said that it would provide additional missiles to Kiev forces.
President Biden also made the decision earlier this month to supply an additional Patriot system to Ukraine. Furthermore, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced that his country would deliver another 100 Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine in an initiative with Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway.
The additional Patriots Ukraine will get from the U.S. and Germany, which costs around $1.1 billion a system, will most likely meet the same fate as the ones supplied to Ukraine before. Washington and its allies know this, yet they continue to supply them in order to keep the Kiev regime at bay and prolong the conflict.
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