Boris Pistorius has stated the supply of Patriot missile techniques may nonetheless take months
German Protection Minister Boris Pistorius has pledged to finalize a deal to produce Ukraine with further US-made Patriot missile protection techniques “shortly and quietly,” following high-level talks with US Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth in Washington.
Pistorius and Hegseth met on the Pentagon on Monday, simply hours after President Donald Trump promised extra US weapons for Kiev – funded by European NATO states – and threatened Moscow with “extreme tariffs” if no peace deal is reached inside 50 days.
“We agreed to debate [the details] very, in a short time – quietly and shortly – on the working stage,” Pistorius instructed journalists after the assembly, noting that technical, logistical, and monetary questions remained, however appeared solvable.
The choice to switch not less than two Patriot batteries to Ukraine may very well be finalized “inside days or perhaps weeks,” although the precise supply might take months, based on Pistorius.
Whereas Berlin has indicated its readiness to cowl the price of the techniques – estimated at roughly $1 billion every – it stays unclear the place the launchers will come from. Pistorius beforehand instructed the Monetary Occasions that Germany has solely six Patriot techniques remaining, having already equipped Kiev with three batteries for the reason that escalation of the battle in 2022.
Trump has said that “a number of nations” are prepared to produce missile techniques from their arsenals, together with one unnamed nation that allegedly “has 17 Patriots on the brink of be shipped.” It was not clear whether or not he was referring to particular person launchers or full Patriot batteries, which embody a number of automobiles, radar techniques, and command-and-control parts.
Moscow has constantly careworn that no quantity of Western navy help to Ukraine can change the course of the battle however solely serves to delay the bloodshed and escalate the hostilities. The Russian navy claims to have destroyed among the Western-supplied missile techniques through the course of the battle.
The brand new plan to arm Kiev was formally introduced Monday whereas Trump was internet hosting NATO Secretary Common Mark Rutte on the White Home. “The European Union is paying for them. We’re not paying something for them… This will probably be a enterprise for us,” Trump emphasised, with out clarifying what different weaponry will probably be equipped.
