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Yaroslav Lukiv
On the 30th, the United States approved the sale to Ukraine of 500 Patriot air defense missiles, which are essential for Ukraine to defend itself against intensified Russian air strikes.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned that the missiles could take "several years" to arrive.
The state-of-the-art PAC-3 missile will cost $2.1 billion (330 billion yen) and will be funded "in its entirety" by Ukraine's European and Canadian allies, the US State Department said on Monday.
On the same day, President Zelensky again called on the United States to accelerate the deployment of Patriot missiles. This missile is the only effective weapon capable of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles that cause enormous damage.
The US government's decision was preceded by an ongoing feud between President Zelenskiy and US President Donald Trump earlier this month. The two presidents criticized each other after the United States eased sanctions on Russia as part of a deal aimed at securing Russian diesel fuel.
Trump said it was time for Ukraine to get new leadership to work out a deal to end the war with Russia. Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
President Zelenskiy then met with the US envoy in Oslo on the 20th, and tensions eased.
"This proposed sale will support America's foreign policy and national security objectives by strengthening the security of our partner countries, which are engines of political and economic stability in Europe," the State Department said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Ukraine will pay for this purchase with domestic funds financed by contributions from Canada, Germany and Norway through the JUMPSTART program and by European Union (EU) support loans for Ukraine," the statement said. JUMPSTART is a joint Ukrainian multinational program established by the U.S. Department of Defense for the rapid delivery of services, training, and goods.
The ``main contractor'' is U.S. Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the Patriot, and ``no American funds were involved in this sale.''
Against this backdrop, European diplomats protested Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's attendance at the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting and refused to take an official group photo.
The meeting is being hosted by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Atlanta.
"I would like to say directly to the Russian Foreign Minister: We all know who the aggressors are in this war," British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told Lavrov during the meeting, accusing the Russian government of killing innocent civilians in Ukraine.
President Zelenskiy said earlier this week that Ukraine has been waiting for nearly a month for the United States to approve critical missile supplies and is critically short on missile supplies.
In a post on the social media site X late on the 30th, Zelenskiy welcomed the US announcement but said Ukraine needed Patriot missiles "right now."
He added that Russia has intensified its attacks on key energy infrastructure ahead of winter, with "more than 30 attacks by Russian forces" against "key parts" of Ukraine's power grid over the past two weeks.
Ukraine desperately needs interceptor missiles, but America's use of them in its war with Iran has created a global shortage.
The production schedule for the Patriot missile is not clear, but it is understood that the order is for the production of new missiles rather than existing missiles, so a quick delivery to Ukraine is not expected.
Patriot missiles have a long production life, with only 600 missiles being made each year, according to the Pentagon.
President Trump said in July that Washington was "not in agreement" with allowing Ukraine to build Patriot missiles. This came just three weeks after Trump offered to grant such rights to Ukraine.
(Additional reporting: Victoria Bourne)
(English article US approves sale of 500 Patriot missiles to Ukraine)
