Ukraine seeks to purchase Patriot PAC-3 missiles, defence minister says

Ukraine is working to secure its first direct contract to purchase PAC-3 interceptor missiles for the US-made Patriot air defence system, Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has stated.

He said they were currently working to sign a direct contract for the purchase of PAC-3 missiles, something that has never been done before, Caliber.Az reports, citing Ukrainian media.

“I am confident we will be able to do this in the near future," Fedorov noted.

He stressed that Ukraine continues to receive missiles from its US partners, but the quantities are insufficient to fully meet the country's air defence needs.

According to Fedorov, Kyiv has "a concrete plan" to secure additional missiles and is pursuing "some unconventional solutions" to attract partners that have never before supplied PAC-3 interceptors.

"Yesterday, together with Sweden's defence minister, we discussed this with the president. We have some unconventional solutions for engaging other partners that have never previously provided us with PAC-3 missiles. We are working on this around the clock. Our goal is to increase the number of these missiles," he added.

Fedorov also referred to PAC-2 GEM-T missiles, which Ukraine can also use, and recalled a major agreement with Germany covering hundreds of interceptors, with deliveries expected to begin next year.

"First, thanks to Germany, we signed a major contract for hundreds of these missiles, with deliveries starting next year. But we also want to borrow missiles from certain countries now and return them later," he emphasised.

The minister acknowledged that obtaining missiles from European Union stockpiles remains a difficult process.

He also said Ukraine is pursuing two parallel tracks: securing as many PAC-2 and PAC-3 missiles as possible through contracts and partner stockpiles, while also developing its own anti-ballistic missile.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov