Ukraine is signing contracts with its partners for the supply of around 1,000 missiles for the Patriot systems, Defence Minister Yevhen Khmara announced at a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group. The purchases will be financed by an EU loan. However, as the majority of the contracted munitions are not expected to arrive until the coming years, Kyiv is requesting urgent transfers from the allies’ existing stocks.
Briefly about the main points
- The contracts provide for the supply of around a thousand missiles for the Patriot system.
- The purchases are financed by a loan from the European Union.
- Most of the new interceptors will be delivered in the coming years.
- Kyiv is proposing that its partners transfer missiles from their depots, with a view to their future replacement.
- The defence budget deficit is estimated at €23 billion.
An urgent need for missiles to fulfil new contracts
According to Clouds, the bulk of the missiles under the new contracts will be supplied over the next few years. Ukraine is therefore asking its partners to provide interceptors from their own stocks immediately.
Instead, partners are being offered the chance to receive upgraded missiles in the future, purchased under these contracts. This arrangement reconciles the need for immediate replenishment of air defence stocks with the longer production cycle for new munitions.
Funding request for drones and defence procurement
The minister called on allies to take the necessary financial decisions by November so that the results could be seen on the battlefield as early as this winter. In his view, up to 90% of Ukraine’s success on the battlefield depends on drones.
General defence budget deficit, according to Khmara, amounts to €23 billion, or $27 billion. This money is needed to purchase drones and ensure a steady supply this year and early next year.
He also stated that Ukraine had already received €62 billion of the €70 billion pledged at this year’s summit NATO in Ankara. In the summit declaration, the allies pledged to provide Ukraine with at least €70 billion worth of military equipment, aid and training in 2026.
The search for cheaper countermeasures against reactive UAVs
In addition, Ukraine is requesting «air-to-air» missiles and man-portable air defence systems. These are needed to combat Shahed drones, and, on a temporary basis, also to counter cruise missiles and jet-powered drones.
Ukraine, together with dozens of domestic companies, is seeking cost-effective solutions for intercepting jet-powered UAVs. Some of these systems are already being tested in combat, the Defence Minister has stated.
