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United States President Joe Biden has made the decision to supply an additional American-made MIM-104 Patriot long-range air defense system to Ukraine, The New York Times reported on June 12.
Unnamed officials told the newspaper that the decision was made last week after high-level meetings and internal debates about how to balance Ukraine’s needs without jeopardizing the combat readiness of the U.S. military.
The newly approved Patriot system will come from Poland, where it has been used to protect American troops preparing to return to the US, the officials said, adding that the system is expected to be operational in Ukraine in the coming days, pending any necessary maintenance.
Last year, Ukraine received two Patriot systems and two launchers from Germany and another system from the United States with two additional launchers donated by the Netherlands.
The systems supplied to Kiev were reportedly a mix of PAC-3 hit-to-kill active missiles to intercept ballistic missiles, with a range of 30-60 kilometers only, and PAC-2 blast fragmentation warhead semi-active missiles to counter aircraft threats with a range of up to 160 kilometers.
A Patriot system costs around $1,1 billion. A single PAC-3 missile costs some $7 million and a PAC-2 missile could cost up to $4 million, depending on the version.
The Russian military has already destroyed much of Ukraine’s Patriot systems. On the backdrop of these losses, the Kiev regime has been begging its allies for more systems.
Germany responded by promising an additional Patriot system. The Netherlands also promised to deliver another Patriot to Kiev forces in the short term jointly with other countries. In addition, Romania said it was open to discussing sending one of its systems. However, a decision is yet to be made.
Meanwhile, Greece refused requests to supply any of its Patriot to Ukraine. Spain also refused, but said that it would supply additional missiles to Kiev forces.
The additional Patriot systems Ukraine will get from the U.S., Germany and others, possibly, will most likely be destroyed by the Russian military similar to the ones supplied last year.
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