Ukraine to receive additional Patriot batteries and SAMP-T system. Partners will allocate $1bn to strengthen our air defence - statement
The United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Romania will provide Ukraine with additional air defence equipment and components. In total, the partners pledged more than $1 billion to support Ukraine's air defence.
This is stated in a joint statement on strengthening Ukraine's air defence by US President Joe Biden, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schuf, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Censor.NET reports citing UP.
"Today, we are announcing that we are jointly providing additional strategic air defence systems to Ukraine, including additional Patriot batteries provided by the United States, Germany and Romania; Patriot components provided by the Netherlands and other partners to enable the additional Patriot battery; and an additional SAMP-T system provided by Italy. These five strategic air defence systems will help protect Ukraine's cities, civilians and soldiers, and we are working closely with the Ukrainian government to ensure these systems can be deployed as soon as possible. We are working on a further announcement later this year to provide additional strategic air defence systems to Ukraine," the statement said.
In addition, as noted, in the coming months, the United States and partners intend to provide Ukraine with dozens of tactical air defence systems, including NASAMS, HAWK, IRIS T-SLM, IRIS T-SLS and Gepard.
According to the statement, several Allies, including Canada, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom, will continue to play an integral role in providing these systems, and many other supporters of Ukraine will provide interceptors.
The United States, in coordination with its partners, has promised to redistribute the planned delivery of critical air defence interceptors to Ukraine.
Ukraine is expected to receive hundreds of additional interceptors over the next year.
"As we strengthen Ukraine's air defence, we are grateful to the coalition of more than 50 countries that continues to provide security assistance to Ukraine, as well as to the Immediate Action Initiative for Air Defence, under which partners have pledged more than $1 billion to support Ukraine's air defence, and the Coalition for Integrated Air and Missile Defence Capabilities, co-chaired by Germany and France.
We also welcome NATO's work in support of Ukraine's efforts to develop an interoperable integrated air and missile defence architecture with NATO. Our message to Moscow and the world is clear: our support for Ukraine is strong and unwavering," the statement said.
