NATO Commander Sees No Delays in Patriot Missile Deliveries to Ukraine
NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Alexus Grynkewich, said the US keeps delivering Patriot interceptor missiles to Ukraine that European allies have paid for. The latest shipment arrived last week.
The head of NATO's Allied forces in Europe, Alexus Grynkewich, told journalists in Riga on Friday that the United States continues to supply Ukraine with interceptor missiles for Patriot air defence systems, along with other weapons paid for by European allies. The issue matters because Ukraine relies on such missiles to defend its airspace against Russian attacks, and their availability has become a sensitive topic.
Grynkewich stressed that none of the deliveries in the PURL package funded by European allies has been delayed. According to him, everything has been delivered, with the most recent batch received only last week. He declined to give the number or types of missiles, but confirmed that deliveries are ongoing. PURL is a mechanism under which European allies pay for American weapons purchased for Ukraine.
The commander also said work is already under way on the contents of the next PURL package. He noted that every individual transfer via third countries requested by the US government has been approved, adding that the work is being done very intensively. His remarks were cited by Bloomberg.
Background
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier that he is still waiting for US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to approve the transfer of additional interceptors. By his account, Ukraine receives an average of only 12 Patriot missiles per month this year.
Ukraine's Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara, for his part, urged the E5 countries — Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Poland and Italy — to consider giving Ukraine 10% of their stocks of Patriot and IRIS-T interceptor missiles in exchange for future deliveries that Kyiv expects.
