The Biden administration is planning to proe Ukraine an additional Patriot air defense system as Kyiv struggles to shield key cities and infrastructure from ongoing Russian assaults, three U.S. and a senior European official said Wednesday.
According to the European official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe plans that had not been made public, the United States has informed some allies of its decision to send Ukraine the additional battery.
One of the U.S. officials said the system will be sent to Ukraine from an airfield in southeastern Poland that the Pentagon has used as a staging base to send weapons and supplies to Ukrainian forces. Multiple Patriot batteries have been based there since Russian’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
U.S. military officials plan to backfill the system in Poland with another Patriot from elsewhere, this person said.
The move follows months of pressure from the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky, facing regular bombardment more than two years into the war, for additional military aid from the West, especially air defense systems that could help proe some normalcy to Ukraine’s citizens and its economy.
“Ukraine saw how the U.S. are searching for Patriots all around the world while not being able to explain why they cannot proe one of their own,” said a Ukrainian official who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic. “Everyone in Ukraine worked on all levels to get this done.”
The Patriot, a marquee U.S. system, is especially coveted because, in addition to effectively protecting troops, urban areas and vital assets such as power facilities, it is the only system that has proven able to shoot down hypersonic missiles that Russia has lobbed at Ukraine. The weapons are maneuverable and fly at low trajectories, making them difficult to detect and defend against.
News of the decision to proe Ukraine the additional Patriot system, which cost more than $1 billion each, was first reported by the New York Times.
The stakes were apparent early Wednesday when the Kremlin launched a massive attack, sending six cruise missiles and more than 20 drones over Ukraine. In the capital, Kyiv, air-raid alerts blared, and explosions rang out throughout the night.
Ukraine’s air force said air defense units successfully downed 29 of 30 incoming targets, which included four cruise missiles, one ballistic missile, one aeroballistic missile and 24 attack drones.
The attack underscored the threat Ukraine’s cities face daily, and the successful downing of almost all the weapons supported Kyiv’s insistence that modern air defense is necessary to repel constant Russian attacks.
Hours after the overnight barrage, another missile attack targeted Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih, killing at least nine people, wounding dozens of others and damaging an administrative and residential building, officials said.
“Every day and every hour, Russian terror proves that Ukraine must strengthen its air defense with the support of our partners,” Zelensky wrote on social media after the attack. “Modern air defense systems can ensure maximum protection for our people, cities, and positions. We need them urgently.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who has lobbied countries that operate the system to donate spares, has said Ukraine needs 26 batteries to fully protect the country from ongoing Russian air attacks, or at a minimum seven to protect key sites.
Germany has delivered two Patriot systems to Ukraine, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced plans to deliver a third one soon. The Netherlands also said last month that it will soon assemble a Patriot system with its own components and those of European allies, repeating an effort it made last year that gave Ukraine one full system.
Ukraine’s challenge in protecting civilians has intensified as antiaircraft munitions dwindled over the winter and early spring — the result of a funding impasse inside the U.S. Congress that held up U.S. aid for seven months.
Now Ukraine is trying to bolster its antimissile shield, especially around major population centers and critical energy infrastructure. Since March, Russia pursued a campaign against Ukraine’s power plants and other nodes of energy infrastructure, plunging many regions into darkness for long stretches of the day.
Zelensky said Tuesday that the Kremlin had destroyed 9 gigawatts of his country’s electricity generation capacity, about half of Ukraine’s peak energy consumption last winter. With Kyiv and other cities already facing blackouts, fears are growing in Ukraine and among its partners that it could face a cold winter, since it is unlikely to be able to rebuild production in time.
O’Grady reported from Kyiv. Alex Horton contributed to this report.
