European Countries Decline Ukraine's Request For More Air Defense Weapons

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stepped up pleas this week for US-made Patriot batteries, castigating Kyiv’s western partners for “turning a blind eye” as the capital region saw the destruction of its largest power plant.

Speaking at the Three Seas summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Thursday, he said Ukraine had fallen into a “routine” in which it suffers Russian air attacks and then pleads for more air defences from western partners who promise to provide them but have failed to deliver.

“Missiles are striking every day, and every day we hear that Ukraine will receive new air defence systems. Every day Russian terrorists cut off the electricity to Kharkiv and our other cities, and every day we hear that new aid is coming soon,” Zelenskyy said. “The reality must finally match the words.”

European capitals have said that they do not have plans to send more systems to Ukraine, arguing that they need to retain their own defence capabilities.

Germany has given two Patriot systems to Ukraine but made clear this week that it would not provide any more.

“We will not be able to offer any more systems for the time being,” the defence ministry said on Monday.

That stance has angered some in the opposition Christian Democratic Union. Norbert Röttgen, a CDU MP and member of the Bundestag foreign affairs committee, has said Berlin could give Ukraine two more Patriot systems, especially as those lent to Poland and Slovakia had now been returned.

“That would mak…  e a real difference for the people in and around Kharkiv,” he said on X. “It would save lives.”

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock last week told lawmakers in the Bundestag that talks were ongoing with other partners, in Europe and worldwide, to find spare Patriot systems.

“There are actors worldwide that have the systems,” she said. “They don’t want to give them directly [to Ukraine], but via third parties. That’s something we’re working on intensively to try to achieve that as quickly as possible.”

The Polish military has insisted it cannot spare Patriots for Ukraine at a time when it is itself waiting for US deliveries after Washington last June approved a Polish order worth $15bn for Patriots and related equipment.

While also in Vilnius on Thursday, Polish President Andrzej Duda ruled out supplying Patriot systems. Instead, he said there was still a possibility Warsaw could transfer more of its Soviet-built missiles to Kyiv, without specifying which models and how many.

“In Poland, we’re just starting to build the Patriot anti-missile defence system. This system in Poland is not ready yet, so we have nothing to donate, even if we wanted to,” Duda said.