Over the past weekend, President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly confirmed that Ukraine has already received the first Patriot air defense systems transferred from Israel through U.S. mediation, with these systems now deployed at unspecified locations to reinforce Kyiv’s always-demanded defense network. The president also added that Ukrainian units are awaiting at least two additional systems, expected to arrive in the near future, along with new batches of the munitions needed to operate them.
This development puts an end to several rounds of back-and-forth statements in which the delivery of Patriot systems from Israel to Ukraine was first claimed and then denied. In particular, back in June, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs was tasked with refuting reports from Ukrainian outlets that claimed such systems had already been delivered, after Ambassador Michael Brodsky suggested that Kyiv had indeed received the equipment. The apparent slip came during an interview with a Ukrainian blogger, in which he referred to systems that “saved our country during the 1990s,” pointing to the Gulf War era.
At that time, Ambassador Brodsky stated: “We received it from the United States and, by the way, these systems are now in Ukraine. We agreed to transfer them to Ukraine and, unfortunately, we don’t talk much about it, but when they say Israel did not provide military aid, that is not true.” Following his remarks, the ministry quickly issued a denial, and the diplomat was also mentioned in an Israeli parliamentary report that raised doubts about whether his statements had prior authorization.
Regardless of those statements, as reported in January, there were already indications from open-source intelligence (OSINT) suggesting the transfer of at least one Patriot system from Israel, along with a batch of around 90 missiles. Specifically, a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III was tracked flying from Ramstein Air Base in Germany to Nevatim Air Base in Israel, where it remained for roughly three hours before continuing on to Rzeszów International Airport in Poland — one of the main logistics hubs for delivering military equipment into Ukraine.
More broadly, it is worth recalling that Israel had already fully retired its Patriot systems, clearing the path for their delivery to Ukraine. This did not leave Israeli skies unprotected; rather, the country advanced its own modern air defense developments, such as Rafael’s David’s Sling and Israel Aerospace Industries’ Arrow systems. Additionally, Israel has completed development, together with Elbit Systems, of a new laser system known as Iron Beam, which is already in the process of being integrated.
Images used for illustrative purposes.
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