The Patriot is the world's most advanced air and missile defence system which Ukraine sees as essential to its self-defence. Photo / Supplied.
The Patriot is the world's most advanced air and missile defence system which Ukraine sees as essential to its self-defence. Photo / Supplied.
Ukrainian officials scrambled to clarify the situation after the United States announced that it was halting deliveries of air defence munitions to Ukraine.
Kyiv desperately needs the weapons as Russia pummels the country with unprecedented waves of aerial attacks.
The US Defence Department decided to halt some shipments to Ukraineafter a review found American military stockpiles to be low, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement.
“This decision was made to put America’s interests first following a review of our nation’s military support and assistance to other countries across the globe,” she said.
The decision was signed by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, a senior White House official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Some weaponry will continue to be supplied to Ukraine, the official said, declining to elaborate about which weapons had been halted.
Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said it had “not received any official notifications” about the “suspension or revision of the delivery schedules” for US military assistance and has requested a phone conversation “to further clarify the details”, the statement said.
Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said in a statement there were “reports of delays in the delivery” of “certain elements” of military aid packages.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry summoned the top official at the US Embassy in Kyiv and said afterwards that “any delay or slowing down in supporting Ukraine’s defence capabilities would only encourage the aggressor to continue war and terror, rather than seek peace”.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram that Kyiv and Washington were “now clarifying all the details regarding the supply of defence support, including air defence components”.
He added that “one way or another, we must ensure protection for our people.”
Russia, for its part, welcomed the news about a suspension in weapons deliveries.
“The less weapons are supplied to Ukraine the closer the end of the special military operation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has launched a summer offensive against Ukraine, especially in the eastern region.
US President Donald Trump recently indicated he might supply Ukraine with Patriot missiles, a system that the Ukrainians need to repel Russian ballistic missile attacks.
American officials did not specify which weapons were being halted, but news reports indicated that they could include air defence systems, which had been allocated to Ukraine by the previous Biden Administration.
After US airstrikes on Iran last month, some European officials expressed concern that Washington may decide to divert air defences planned for Ukraine to the Middle East.
US officials have stressed that arms shipments to Ukraine are contingent on maintaining a balance with strategic reserves of certain weapons needed for global operations.
Tehran’s retaliatory attack on a US base in Qatar last month, for instance, prompted the largest single engagement of Patriot air defence missiles in US history, the Pentagon said.
The sophisticated system, which has been provided to Ukraine, costs more than US$1 billion ($1.64b), and some versions of the interceptor missiles cost nearly US$4 million apiece.
“The truth of the matter is, we use munitions faster than we can make them,” a US official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Russia has launched massive waves of drones and missiles against Ukraine in the last few weeks - attacks that are increasing in intensity.
Rescuers work at the site where a Russian ballistic missile strikes a residential apartment building in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 17. Photo / Getty Images
In June alone, Russia sent more than 5000 self-detonating drones crashing into Ukrainian cities, causing substantial civilian casualties.
On Monday, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces pounded Ukraine in the largest air assault of the war, firing 537 drones and missiles at locations across the country.
Ukraine has been pushing repeatedly in international forums for increased air defence capabilities to defend itself against the onslaught. At a Nato summit last week, Trump met Zelenskyy on the sidelines and said Washington could try to find more air defence for Kyiv.
“They do want to have the anti-missile missiles. Okay. As they call them. The Patriots. And we’re going to see if we can make some available. Yeah, they’re very hard to get. We need them, too,” Trump said during a news conference.
Trump’s Administration appears divided on the issue of the war, with some members pushing for closer relations, especially commercial, with Russia, while others have seen Ukraine as the victim of foreign aggression.
Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, accused Russia on Tuesday of stalling in the negotiations while it continues to conquer Ukrainian territory.
“We urge an immediate ceasefire and a move to trilateral talks to end the war. Russia cannot continue to stall for time while it bombs civilian targets in Ukraine,” he said.
Lesia Orobets, the founder of Price of Freedom, an advocacy group supporting the Ukrainian Air Force which works with the Defence Ministry, said it was unclear “whether this reflects a Trump policy”.
“Is it … an attempt to pressure Ukraine, an attempt to pressure Europe? Or are we talking about an administrative delay?” she said, describing the Patriot systems as irreplaceable and vital to countering the threat of Russia’s ballistic missiles.
“There is simply no alternative in the world to the American Patriot system in terms of both quality and quantity. There are no substitutes,” she said.
“So this kind of disruption in supplies not only hits Ukraine’s skies - it also undermines global confidence in American weapons.”
Mykola Bielieskov, a research fellow at the government-linked Ukrainian National Institute for Strategic Studies, said that the “repositioning of the US role in the war has already happened”, as Trump “inherited US$4b from Biden” in Ukrainian military aid “and did nothing in almost the last six months”.
The loss of air defence systems like the Patriot would “negatively affect” Ukraine’s air anti-missile defence, he said, “especially in the anti-ballistic-missile segment as Russia has increased production of short-range ballistic missiles and imported them from North Korea”.
“In general, such an action of the Trump Administration, if it indeed happened, would be counterproductive in terms of quick peace settlement,” he said.
