US approves sale of hundreds of Patriot missiles to Ukraine

American diplomacy has approved the sale of hundreds of Patriot missiles to Ukraine. Kyiv had waited almost a month for the decision, and the country’s stocks of such munitions are now critically low, Reuters reports.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reminded everyone this week that the country had been waiting almost a month for the deal to be approved. The shortage of Patriot missiles played into Russia’s hands: it stepped up strikes on Ukraine’s civilian and energy infrastructure.

Who will pay for the missiles

Ukraine itself will pay for the purchase, with financial help from Canada, Germany and Norway. Part of the money will come from a fund financed by a European Union loan. The main supplier of the missiles will be the defense company Lockheed Martin.

Zelensky also urged the US government to speed up, before winter arrives, deliveries of missiles that allies have already bought for Ukraine under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) program. Every winter, Russian forces hit the energy sector in an attempt to weaken Ukrainians’ will to resist.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz