Just days after the Pentagon partially suspended shipments of air defense missiles to the Armed Forces of Ukraine—amid what U.S. analysts considered already severely depleted domestic stockpiles—the president, Donald Trump, confirmed this past Sunday that the U.S. is preparing to resume the transfer of Patriot munitions to Kyiv. The decision comes virtually in parallel with the American president pressuring his Russian counterpart with higher tariffs, as he has expressed frustration over the latter’s lack of commitment to a resolution of the war that has been ongoing since 2022.
Recalling some of the statements made by Trump himself to the press during a visit to Joint Base Andrews, the following stand out: “We will send them Patriot missiles, which they urgently need, because Putin surprised a lot of people. He speaks kindly and then bombs everyone at night. But there’s a little problem. I don’t like it.” The aforementioned ultimatum directed at Russia is clear proof of this; the 50-day deadline set by the U.S. administration before the tariff hike is already running.
Expanding on details of the decision, the U.S. president disclosed that this will be a transfer of air defense missiles financed by the European Union, which will reimburse the full cost to the U.S. to facilitate the operation. “Basically, we’ll send them various pieces of very sophisticated military equipment. They’ll pay us 100% for it, and that’s how we want it,” stated the Republican leader, who is scheduled to meet this week with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte of the Netherlands.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to urge his Western allies for the essential support needed to sustain and strengthen his country’s air defenses, at a time when Moscow’s air attacks are intensifying in scale. In the case of the U.S., this translates into the need to receive not only the aforementioned Patriot missiles, but also AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles to equip the NASAMS system, and FIM-92 Stinger missiles for the Avenger systems.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that Ukraine’s European allies have also taken steps in recent days to maintain support for Ukrainian air defense, responding to Kyiv’s request. An illustrative example of this can be found in the United Kingdom, which has decided to use funds frozen through sanctions on Russian citizens and companies to finance the transfer of up to 300 ASRAAM missiles to Ukrainian forces—at an estimated cost of nearly 70 million pounds.
*Images used for illustrative purposes only
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