President Joe Biden used his opening speech at the NATO summit on July 9 to announce that the Alliance had agreed to send more air defense assets to Ukraine, including Patriot systems. “Today I’m announcing a historic donation of air defense equipment for Ukraine,” he said. “The United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Italy will provide Ukraine with the equipment for five additional strategic air defense systems.” In addition, he said that in the coming months the United States and others will provide dozens of other tactical air defense systems and hundreds of munitions for them.
According to a joint statement issued last night, the leaders of the U.S., the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Romania and Ukraine said they “are providing Ukraine with additional strategic air defense systems, including additional Patriot batteries donated by the United States, Germany, and Romania; Patriot components donated by the Netherlands and other partners to enable the operation of an additional Patriot battery; and an additional SAMP-T system donated by Italy.”
“These five strategic air defense systems will help to protect Ukrainian cities, civilians, and soldiers, and we are coordinating closely with the Ukrainian government so that these systems can be utilized rapidly,” the statement said further. “We are working on a further announcement this year of additional strategic air defense systems for Ukraine.”
“In addition, in the coming months, the United States and partners intend to provide Ukraine with dozens of tactical air defense systems, including NASAMS, HAWKs, IRIS T-SLM, IRIS T-SLS, and Gepard systems,” the statement continued. “These systems will further expand and strengthen Ukraine’s air defense coverage. Several Allies—including Canada, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom—will continue to play an integral role in the provision of these systems, and many other supporters of Ukraine will assist in the provision of interceptors.”
