EU Fails to Agree on Sending Patriot Missiles to Ukraine
European Union defence ministers failed at their latest meeting to reach agreement on transferring Patriot missiles from member states’ stockpiles to Ukraine, highlighting a fresh deadlock as Kyiv urgently needs air defence systems.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said after the meeting that member states had taken no new decision on providing Patriot missiles to Ukraine. She said one option under discussion is for members and EU partners to temporarily lend missiles from their own stocks to Ukraine and replace them later.
She said the cost of replacing the equipment could be covered by a 90 billion euro aid loan for Ukraine. According to Kallas, the EU has so far approved 28.3 billion euros worth of procurement plans under the same loan, and Patriot missiles that are due to be produced in the United States in future are also included in these plans.
Kallas stressed that producing these missiles takes time, while Ukraine urgently needs Patriot systems now. She added that EU defence ministers had agreed to continue examining the issue.
In recent weeks, a global shortage of Patriot missiles has become a concern for US allies. According to experts’ assessments, given the heavy use of these missiles in the war in Ukraine and tensions in the Middle East, rebuilding existing stockpiles at current production capacity could take years, even if fighting were to stop immediately.
