By Sabine Siebold
BERLIN (Reuters) – Ukraine’s western allies are in discussions about supplying additional Patriot air defence systems to Kyiv and are aiming to reach an agreement before a NATO summit at the end of June, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.
The U.S. and Greece are among the potential suppliers of these systems, according to the source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Ukraine is increasingly desperate to get more Patriots, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy telling CBS news last month his government was ready to buy 10 of the U.S.-made air defence systems that are vital for shooting down Russian ballistic missiles.
According to Ukrainian Defence Express military analysts, as of April this year, Ukraine had seven fully operational Patriot systems.
Quoting U.S. officials, the New York Times reported on Sunday that Washington was planning to send a Patriot system that was based in Israel to Ukraine after it is refurbished.
It added that allies were talking about “the logistics of Germany or Greece” giving another one.
Zelenskiy said he had discussed air defence systems with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral in the Vatican, in what he called the best meeting the two ever had.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold and Elizabeth Piper in Kyiv; Editing by Andrew Gray and Sudip Kar-Gupta)
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