US moves to free up Patriot missiles for Ukraine

Telegraph

2 days ago

The Trump administration has started freeing up Patriot air defence systems to send to Ukraine, days after the US president vowed to send more weapons to Kyiv.
The Pentagon has moved Germany ahead of Switzerland to receive the next Patriots, which will allow Berlin to send Ukraine the two weapons it already has, US officials told The Wall Street Journal.
Switzerland had purchased five Patriot systems which were scheduled to be delivered between 2026 and 2028.
It comes days after Donald Trump announced his decision reversal on supplying weapons to Ukraine, proposing a pipeline plan to sell weapons to Nato allies in Europe, who could in turn provide them to Kyiv.
Mr Trump gave Vladimir Putin a deadline of 50 days to negotiate a peace deal or face 'very significant' tariffs and sanctions, including on its trading partners.
The costly Patriot systems – in high demand among US allies – have proven effective at destroying Russian ballistic missiles aimed at Ukraine's cities.
'We're sending weapons to Nato, and Nato is paying for those weapons, 100 per cent,' Mr Trump said in an interview with NBC News last week.
'So what we're doing is, the weapons that are going out are going to Nato, and then Nato is going to be giving those weapons (to Ukraine), and Nato is paying for those weapons.'
Mr Trump said last week the weapons were 'already being shipped', adding: 'They're coming in from Germany and then replaced by Germany, and in all cases, the United States gets paid back in full.'
Germany was believed to be the nation most invested in the scheme. Friedrich Merz, its chancellor, proposed buying Patriot air defence batteries for Ukraine in a deal with the US.
Some European allies had so far refrained from committing to the $10 billion (£7.5 billion)initiative, which involves countries giving up their prized systems, including the Patriot missile batteries that Kyiv has been desperately seeking.
The Trump administration will manoeuvre plans for its future deliveries to prioritise the countries who sign on to send Patriots to Ukraine, a US official told the WSJ.
Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, is scheduled to meet his Nato counterparts on Monday to discuss the issue.
A separate meeting Wednesday involving countries that own Patriots will be chaired by Gen Alexus Grynkewich, chief of European Command.
The Swiss government said the US had 'decided to reprioritise the delivery of Patriot ground-based air defence systems' as part of its effort to support Ukraine. It is now not clear when the country will receive the equipment.
Kyiv has six fully operational Patriot batteries – two from the US, two from Germany, one from Romania and one jointly given by Germany and the Netherlands, according to the arms monitoring group Action on Armed Violence.
During his Oval Office meeting with Mr Trump last week, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte mentioned six Nato countries – Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Canada – that were willing to participate in the weapons-purchasing scheme.
Some had been hesitant to make a decision on whether to join the scheme without the release of key details.
France had told allies it will not join the initiative, according to officials briefed on the discussions.
The Italian government said it would not purchase weapons but could help with the logistics of transporting them to Ukraine, Italian media reported.