The United States has approved the sale of 500 Patriot interceptor missiles to Ukraine to help the country defend itself against intensifying Russian aerial attacks.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that the deliveries could take “several years” to reach his country, reports BBC.
The US State Department said the advanced PAC-3 missiles would cost $2.1 billion (£1.6 billion), with European countries and Canada funding the entire purchase.
On Friday night, Zelensky renewed his appeal to Washington to accelerate the supply of Patriot systems, describing them as the only effective weapon capable of intercepting Russia’s deadly ballistic missiles.
The approval follows a diplomatic dispute between Zelensky and US President Donald Trump earlier this month.
Tensions escalated after Washington eased sanctions on Russia as part of a deal to secure Russian diesel supplies.
Trump also said Ukraine needed a new leader to negotiate an agreement to end the war with Russia. Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, following its earlier seizure of Crimea and parts of the eastern Donbas region.
Relations appeared to improve after Zelensky met US envoys in Oslo on 20 October.
In a statement on Friday, the State Department said, “this proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a partner country that is a force for political and economic stability in Europe”.
It added that “Ukraine will pay for this purchase with donations from Canada, Germany, and Norway via the JUMPSTART program and national funds, financed by the European Union’s Ukraine Support Loan”.
The department identified US defence company Lockheed Martin as the “principal contractor” and stressed that “no US funds are involved in this sale”.
Meanwhile, European diplomats at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting refused to stand for an official group photograph in protest against the presence of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is hosting the meeting in Atlanta.
Addressing Lavrov at the summit, UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said: “Let me say this directly to the Russian Foreign Minister: We all know who the aggressor in this war is,” accusing Moscow of killing innocent civilians in Ukraine.
Earlier this week, Zelensky said Ukraine had been waiting nearly a month for Washington to approve critical missile supplies as its stockpiles were running dangerously low.
Welcoming the US decision in a post on X late on Friday, he nevertheless stressed that Ukraine needed the Patriot missiles “right now”.
He also warned that Russia was stepping up attacks on key energy infrastructure ahead of winter. According to Zelensky, Russian forces had carried out “more than 30 Russian strikes” on “critical parts” of Ukraine’s power grid over the past two weeks.
Ukraine urgently needs the interceptors, but a global shortage has emerged partly because of their use by the United States in its war against Iran.
The production timeline for the newly approved missiles remains unclear. However, the order is understood to cover newly manufactured units rather than existing stockpiles, making an immediate delivery unlikely.
The Patriots also take considerable time to manufacture. According to the US Department of Defence, the country produces only 600 missiles annually.
In July, Trump said Washington had “not agreed” to license Ukraine to manufacture Patriot missiles, reversing course just three weeks after offering Kyiv such a right.
