US to redirect Patriot air defence orders to Ukraine

The US government is set to halt all open orders for Patriot air defence systems and interceptor missiles until Ukraine has enough to defend itself from Russia’s air attacks.

The move would be announced on June 20, after President Joe Biden said last week in Italy that he had secured commitments for the delivery of additional air defence systems to Ukraine. These would include Patriot missile batteries for which Kyiv has been clamouring after Russia escalated missile and drone attacks on its power plants, according to the foreign media.

Biden said five countries had agreed to send Patriot and other air defence systems to Ukraine, and that other countries expecting the delivery of the US systems would have to wait because “everything we have is going to go to Ukraine until their needs are met”.

Standing beside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the two signed a 10-year defence pact on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Puglia, Biden added that Kyiv would begin receiving more systems “relatively quickly”.

The US announcement on June 20 will codify Biden’s commitment to Kyiv and ensure that Ukraine gets the Patriot systems it needs to protect its cities and critical infrastructure, two of the people with knowledge of the decision told the Financial Times.

Poland, Romania and Germany are among the European nations with open orders for Patriot systems still to be delivered. Spain also has an open order for Patriot launchers, while a coalition of Nato states in January placed an order for 1,000 Patriot missiles.