Defense: Zelensky hopes to exchange rings with Patriot missiles

Berlin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is hoping for an exchange of urgently needed missiles for the Patriot air defense system. Zelensky said in an interview with journalists on the sidelines of his visit to Turkey that he would try to convince allies to quickly provide his country with Patriot missiles. The Allies are to be compensated for this later from a delivery of missiles from the USA that has just been released.

Russia is increasingly attacking Ukraine with ballistic missiles. For defense, the Ukrainian army relies primarily on the American Patriot system and modern PAC-3 missiles. So far, these have only been produced in the USA and Japan. And the American stocks have been decimated by the Iran war.

Zelensky had recently complained that his government had been waiting almost four weeks for US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's signature on the release of a new shipment of Patriot missiles. On Friday, the US State Department announced that a delivery of 500 PAC-3 missiles to Ukraine would be approved. The $2.1 billion deal is not being financed by the USA, but by Ukraine with the support of Canada, Germany, Norway and the European Union, according to a statement from the State Department.

However, delivery is likely to take some time. PAC-3 manufacturer Lockheed Martin currently has a manufacturing capacity of approximately 600 missiles per year. Production is expected to triple by the beginning of the 2030s, but that is currently not helping Ukraine.

Zelensky had complained that Russia had fired more than 100 ballistic missiles at his country in just two weeks. As winter approaches, Russian President Vladimir Putin aims to use attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure to break the morale of the population, which has been suffering from the Russian war of aggression for more than four and a half years.

Zelensky therefore hopes to be able to initially meet the urgent need for Patriot missiles in other countries. The idea: Some of the world's 20 or so user states of the air defense system could provide Ukraine with missiles from their own stocks and then later receive replacements from the US. The Ukrainian President said in the USA that one could also discuss whether there might be a surcharge for the later compensation.

However, here too the scope is limited. European allies such as Germany, the Netherlands and Poland have already provided Ukraine with Patriot missiles and, given their own defense capabilities, see little scope for additional deliveries. The same applies to the Gulf states, which need their Patriot systems to defend themselves against Iranian attacks. And user states such as Taiwan, Japan and South Korea are conserving supplies in order to be prepared for a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan.