The Ukrainian government is trying to push the authorities of Poland, Romania and Spain to hand over Patriot air defence systems, but the politicians of these countries do not want to take such a step. This was reported by the Financial Times (FT) newspaper with reference to an unnamed source.
“Kiev is lobbying for Patriot systems from Poland, Romania and Spain to be sent to Ukraine,” the source told the FT.
According to the newspaper, the European countries said that they did not plan to send Kiev their air defence systems, arguing that they themselves “need to preserve their defence capabilities”.
“They (Kiev – ed.) only need seven (Patriot systems – ed.). ‘But it (agreeing the transfer – ed.) is difficult,’ the unnamed source added.”
The FT quoted Polish President Andrzej Duda as saying in Vilnius that the Polish government had ruled out the possibility of Patriot deliveries to Ukraine. At the same time, Duda added that there is still a possibility that he may transfer more Soviet-made missiles to Kiev, but did not specify “which ones and in what quantity”, the newspaper pointed out.
Earlier, the Bild newspaper quoted a member of the Bundestag’s budget committee, Ingo Gedehans, as saying that the German government was embellishing the data on the military assistance provided and planned for Ukraine.
