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Germany will send an additional American-made MIM-104 Patriot long-range air defense system to Ukraine to help it fend off increased Russian strikes, the German Defence Ministry announced on April 13.
The ministry said that the air defense system will come from the stocks of the German military and is to be handed over immediately.
“Russian terror against Ukrainian cities and the country’s infrastructure is causing immeasurable suffering,” said German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, announcing the move. “It is jeopardizing people’s energy supply and destroying the operational readiness of the Ukrainian armed forces.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz also spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Saturday, reaffirming his “unwavering solidarity with Ukraine in the face of massive and ongoing Russian airstrikes, particularly on civilian energy infrastructure,” a German government spokesman said in its own statement.
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.
The systems supplied to Kiev are said to be 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.
The Russian military has already destroyed much of Ukraine’s Patriot systems, which explains why Germany was forced to sacrifice another system to keep the air defenses of the country operating at least for a while.
Sooner or later, the additional Patriot system, which costs around $1.1 billion, will likely meet the same fate as the ones supplied to Ukraine before.
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