US-made Patriot surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems will be delivered to Ukraine “as quickly as possible,” and Germany will pick up the tab, NATO’s top military commander in Europe, American General Alexus Grynkewich, has said. Washington and Berlin agreed on the scheme earlier this week.
Vladimir Zelensky has been increasingly urging his Western backers to provide more Patriot units recently. Russia, which claims to have destroyed some of the air defense systems since 2022, maintains that no amount of military aid to Ukraine can change the outcome of the conflict, and only serves to prolong the bloodshed.
In an article on Thursday, Reuters quoted Grynkewich as saying he was under orders to carry out the delivery “as quickly as possible.”
“There will be a lot more to follow,” he added, without providing any further details.