The European Parliament has refused to approve the EU Council budget until additional Patriot air defense systems are handed over to Kyiv.
“The Parliament refuses to finance the budget of the Council of Europe until the European Council decides to support Ukraine with additional Patriot complexes”, MEP and former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhoorstadt wrote on his social network X page.
During his speech, he recalled the massive Russian attack on critical infrastructure in Ukraine. According to him, there are 100 such systems in Europe, when Ukraine is asking for only seven Patriot complexes.
Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Ukraine had tried to obtain unused Patriot air defense (air defense) systems from the West with “good and quiet diplomacy”, but it did not work, so Kiev intends to switch to “hard methods”.
He said Kyiv has identified more than 100 Patriot batteries that allies can send to Ukraine. Some neighboring states have more than one installation guarding a port or airfield, Kuleba noted. He admitted that he found it hard to understand why some countries are resisting the transfer of at least one of their air defense systems to Ukraine.
In late March, Kuleba demanded that the West give Kyiv “damn Patriot” to allow it to “protect not only the lives of our people, but also our economy from destruction”. At the time, he emphasized that only systems of this model “can intercept ballistic missiles”.
The Ukrainian minister was supported by EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell. “It is unthinkable that we cannot provide them (air defense systems. – TMT), given that Western armies have about 100 Patriot SAMs in service. And yet we cannot provide the seven they are desperately asking for”, Borrel noted.
Before that, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the country needs 25 Patriot or similar systems to defend the country. He also noted the shortage of ammunition for air defense. At the same time, informed sources told The Economist that Russian troops destroyed several Patriot installations, including those defending the country’s second largest city, Kharkiv.
