The European Union’s foreign policy chief said a meeting of the bloc’s defense ministers did not result in progress towards a weapons transfer to Ukraine that included Patriot missiles.
“There were calls and talks about these missiles but there was, unfortunately, no concrete success today regarding this,” the EU’s top foreign affairs official, Kaja Kallas, said on Tuesday. “Patriot missiles about to expire [by Nato standards] should be sent to Ukraine.”
In recent months, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has begged for his Western backers to send additional Patriot interceptors to Ukraine. During a meeting with President Donald Trump in July, Zelensky requested a “winter package” of 300 Patriot missiles.
However, the shortage of Patriot interceptors has been exacerbated by the US war against Iran. The US has used about two-thirds of its Patriots during the six-month-long conflict. The lack of interceptors in US stockpiles has caused military officials to advise President Trump not to escalate the conflict.
Zelensky explained that without additional Patriot interceptors, Ukraine is unable to shoot down Russian ballistic missiles.
Moscow has been exploiting Kiev’s shortage of interceptors in recent weeks and conducted several large-scale missile attacks on Ukrainian cities.
Last month, CNN reported speaking with Ukrainian soldiers who operate Patriot air defense systems who said that they had been unable to fire interceptors for several weeks due to a shortage of missiles. One soldier said that a Patriot missile system has sat idle since it was last fired ten weeks ago. A second Patriot engineer said a launcher near him had not fired in six weeks.
Greece and Spain outright rejected sending Patriot missiles to Ukraine. Athens said it needed its interceptors ready for threats in the Eastern Mediterranean. Tehran recently threatened to strike American bases in Europe if they are used for attacks against Iran.
