NATO Allies To Buy Patriot Missile Systems From US For Ukraine
American MIM-104 Patriot air defense missile systems and other munitions are to be purchased for Ukraine by NATO member nations. This comes following the recent announcement of a new arms deal which has been brokered between the U.S. and Ukraine. As it stands Ukraine currently operates eight Patriot batteries along with an additional four launchers, these have been provided by the US, Germany, Romania and the Netherlands.
The news comes a mere two weeks after U.S. military assistance for Ukraine was again briefly paused. The pause was reported to have been done because of concerns around ‘low stockpiles’. Despite this shipments have reportedly been restarted and the Patriot deal comes in addition to previously agreed aid. Earlier this week President Trump spoke alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on the new deal, saying: “it’s a very big deal we’ve made, you have very wealthy countries buying the best equipment in the world.”
It is understood that many of the systems to be purchased are being made available from pre-existing stockpiles or recent production. At least eight NATO member nations are said to be prepared to pay for the new weaponry for use in Ukraine, with Germany agreeing to buy two Patriot systems and Norway offering to purchase a third. The United Kingdom and the Netherlands have also pledged their backing of the new deal.
It is understood that Germany’s Chancellor Merz along with Secretary Rutte were instrumental in securing the deal. Rutte added that the new deal will mean “that Ukraine can get its hands on really massive numbers of military equipment, both for air defense, but also missiles, ammunition, etc, etc.”
However, not every NATO member nation is happy to be a part of the new deal. France and Italy have refused to buy the American weaponry. French President Emmanuel Macron citing his desire for European nations to bolster their own air defences industry by purchasing arms from their own domestic manufacturers. Italian newspaper La Stampa reported the Italian reasoning for not joining the Patriot procurement deal was due to financial limitations along with a desire to focus on sourcing other equipment and systems for use in Ukraine. Similarly Czechia has also said they intend to focus on other ways to contribute to Ukraine’s defense, such as continuing to provide artillery ammunition.
The Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski questioned how the new systems were to be paid for, when talking the to Polish Press Agency on July 15. Suggesting frozen Russian assets could be used instead:
“I asked my fellow foreign ministers: Who should pay for American equipment? Should it be European taxpayers, or, in my opinion, should the aggressor pay for it using its frozen funds?”
It is yet to be seen exactly how many NATO member nations will be involved in this ongoing arrangement between the U.S. and Ukraine. It also remains to be seen who will provide them and how many systems or missiles are to be provided to Ukraine with President Trump suggesting as many as 17 systems (whether this indicates launchers or batteries is also unclear) could be provided. Similarly, the timeline for delivery of systems also remains unclear.