US clears $2.1 billion Patriot missile deal for Ukraine, allies to pay

As Zelenskyy welcomed the move, he also urged Washington to facilitate faster deliveries, saying the missiles are needed to counter Russian attacks during the coming winter (Photo: Reuters).

The US state department on Friday approved a possible sale of 500 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) interceptors to Ukraine, in a deal estimated to be worth $2.1 billion and funded entirely by Kyiv's partners and allies.Ukraine has been facing shortages of US-made Patriot air defence systems and PAC-3 interceptors, which can be used to intercept Russian ballistic missiles. Intensified Russian attacks over the past two months have forced people across the country to increasingly seek shelter, with air raid alerts becoming part of daily life.However, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the move, he also urged Washington to facilitate faster deliveries, saying the missiles are needed to counter Russian attacks during the coming winter.“Five hundred PAC-3 interceptors is a substantial number, and very soon – this winter – they COULD make for a highly effective defence package. However, it has been stipulated that deliveries may begin ONLY IN A FEW YEARS,” Zelenskyy said.“We are asking our American partners to find a solution for the time when there is a real danger and a real need to use PAC-3 interceptors,” he added.According to the US state department's notification, Ukraine has requested to purchase 500 PAC-3 MSE missiles, along with classified and unclassified spare parts and other related logistics and programme support.

The purchase would be funded through donations from Canada, Germany and Norway via the Jumpstart programme, as well as national funds financed by the European Union's Ukraine Support Loan.“No U.S. funds are involved in this sale,” the notification said.The principal contractor for the proposed sale is Lockheed Martin.According to the state department, the proposed sale would improve Ukraine's ability to respond to current and future threats by strengthening its integrated air and missile defence capabilities.

It would also sustain the operation of existing Patriot systems against ongoing aerial threats.

Zelenskyy seeks immediate supply of interceptors

While welcoming the authorisation, Zelenskyy said Ukraine needed the interceptors during the winter of 2026-2027 rather than several years later.He said Russia had continued targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure, with more than 30 strikes on critical parts of the country's power grid during the first two weeks of October alone.“Right now, the Russians are attacking our energy infrastructure every single day,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Russian attacks were targeting electricity, heating, water supplies and bridges, as well as life in Ukrainian cities and communities.The Ukrainian president said Kyiv had asked its American partners for a winter support package involving 100 Patriot interceptors a month.Zelenskyy proposed that the US and its partners supply Ukraine with interceptors from their existing stocks during the winter, and replenish their arsenals in subsequent years through production already contracted and paid for by Ukraine and its partners.“The United States, our European partners, and other partners around the world have sufficient stocks of PAC-3 interceptors in their warehouses,” he said, adding that supplying them immediately and replenishing the stocks later would be “entirely feasible”.Previously, the US secretary of state Marco Rubio described the interceptors as the as the “most in-demand product” in the defence sector.“When a country doesn't get interceptors from the United States, it's not because we're denying.

We have our own. We have minimum standards that we have to meet internally in our base presence all over the world,” Rubio said.He added that the US maintained a global defence footprint, with many of its installations around the world relying on air defence systems.“So there's nothing being deliberately denied to Ukraine,” Rubio said.On Friday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine's long-range strike capabilities were an important element of its security.“Ukraine's long-range strike capabilities are one of the real guarantees of our independence now, during this war, and they will remain one of our long-term security guarantees after it ends,” he said in an X post.