The U.S. State Department on Friday approved the sale of 500 Patriot advanced PAC-3 interceptor missiles to Ukraine for $2.1 billion.1,3,4,5,7
The department said the purchase would be paid for by allies and would involve no U.S. funds, at a moment when Ukraine says its stocks of interceptors are running low during intensified Russian air attacks on energy infrastructure ahead of winter.1,4
In its statement, the department said, "this proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a partner country that is a force for political and economic stability in Europe." It named Lockheed Martin as the principal contractor and said there would be "no adverse impact" on U.S. defense readiness. CBS described the package as 500 Patriot missile defense systems; the BBC described it as 500 Patriot missiles.1,4
The department said, "Ukraine will pay for this purchase with donations from Canada, Germany, and Norway via the JUMPSTART program and national funds, financed by the European Union's Ukraine Support Loan." It added that "no US funds are involved in this sale." The BBC said the missiles would be "funded entirely" by allies in Europe and Canada.1,4
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the decision and thanked President Trump, but warned it could take "several years" for the missiles to arrive. He said Ukraine needed the Patriot missiles "right now" and said, "We are asking our American partners to find a solution for the time when there is a real danger," in an appeal on Friday evening.1,4
Zelenskyy asked the United States and European allies to release Patriot systems from their own stockpiles now and replenish their arsenals with the 500 missiles purchased by Ukraine in the coming years. On Friday night he repeated calls for the US to speed up the release of its Patriots, which the BBC described as the only effective weapon for downing Russia's deadly ballistic missiles.1,4
Zelenskyy said Russia had carried out more than 30 strikes on energy infrastructure in the past two weeks, hitting what he called "critical parts" of the power grid and "the systems that sustain life in our cities and communities." On Saturday morning he said Russian strikes on Friday night left about 200,000 households in the Dnipro region and at least 80,000 households in the Kyiv region without electricity, and accused Russia of "deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure every day."1,4
It is not clear what the production schedule will be. The order is understood to be for new builds rather than existing missiles, meaning there is unlikely to be any kind of rapid delivery to Ukraine. The BBC said only 600 missiles are produced per year, according to the US Department of Defence, and that Kyiv needs the interceptors amid a global shortage tied to their use by the US in its war against Iran.1
Zelenskyy said earlier in the week that Ukraine had waited almost a month for the US to sign off on missile supplies that were running low, and Ukraine has previously accused the United States of slowing deliveries. The approval followed a dispute earlier in October after the United States eased sanctions on Russia as part of a deal to secure Russian diesel, a move that drew criticism for waiving new sanctions on Russia just days before they were expected to take effect.1,4
The US president stated it was time for Ukraine to get a new leader to strike a deal to end the war with Russia. In July, Trump said Washington had "not agreed" to license Ukraine to produce Patriot missiles, three weeks after offering the country such a right. Tensions eased after Zelensky held talks with US envoys in Oslo on 20 October. Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, having earlier seized Crimea and parts of Donbas in the east.1
At the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta, hosted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, European diplomats refused to stand for an official photograph over the presence of Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told Lavrov, "Let me say this directly to the Russian Foreign Minister: We all know who the aggressor in this war is," accusing his government of killing innocent civilians in Ukraine.1
Zelenskyy said, "We are asking for decisions that can guarantee the protection of lives not the day after tomorrow or sometime later, but at the very moment the threat is there."4
