“Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure,” Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a tweet.
The United States agreed in October to send the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles, and shorter-range ballistic missiles such as those that Russia has used to bombard residential areas and the Ukrainian power grid.
KYIV, Ukraine — American-made Patriot missiles have arrived in Ukraine, the country’s defense minister said Wednesday, providing Kyiv with a long-sought new shield against the Russian airstrikes that have devastated cities and civilian infrastructure.
The missiles are the latest contribution from Western allies, who have also pledged tanks, artillery, and some types of fighter jets as Ukraine gears up for an expected counteroffensive.
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Reznikov thanked the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands, without saying how many missile systems had been delivered or when they arrived.
Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said late Tuesday that delivery of the systems would be a landmark event, allowing Ukrainians to knock out Russian targets at a greater distance.
Meanwhile, the United States is sending another weapons package to Ukraine — this one valued at $325 million, Pentagon officials said Wednesday, as the Biden administration moves to shore up Ukrainian munitions and logistical supplies in advance of an expected counteroffensive.
The new package includes ammunition for HIMARS rocket systems, artillery rounds, anti-armor weapon systems, and antitank mines. Two weeks ago, the administration announced a $2.6 billion package that included munitions for Ukraine’s air defense systems.
The $325 million will provide weaponry from military stockpiles, officials said.
US officials have been rushing to reinforce Ukraine’s air defenses amid worries that President Vladimir Putin of Russia will decide that he is ready to redeploy his air force, which has largely sat out the war, in an effort to gain ground.
Officials say that Ukraine’s air defenses, which troops keep on the move to avoid Russian strikes, have done a good job of keeping Russian warplanes out of the skies over most of the country.
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But leaked classified Pentagon documents that surfaced on social media sites two weeks ago show that, as of early March, there was concern in the US intelligence community that Ukraine was running low on air defense munitions.
The latest weapons package will include precision-guided munitions, four logistics support vehicles, more than 9 million rounds of small arms munitions, demolition munitions for obstacle clearing, and equipment meant to help Ukrainian forces secure their ports and harbors.
A fierce battle still rages in the city of Bakhmut, which is at the heart of a Russian campaign to seize all of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. Russian troops were expected to have taken the city months ago, but the battle has been long and costly.
Pentagon officials say that the front lines remain static, with both sides exchanging significant amounts of artillery fire.
Germany’s federal government website on Tuesday listed a Patriot system as among the military items delivered within the past week to Ukraine. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock confirmed that to lawmakers Wednesday in Berlin.
Germany has also delivered the second of four medium-range IRIS-T air defense systems that it pledged last year, Baerbock said.
Reznikov said he first asked for Patriot systems when visiting the United States in August 2021, five months before Russia’s full-scale invasion and seven years after Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula. He described possessing the system as “a dream” but said he was told in the United States at the time that it was “impossible.”
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Ukrainian personnel have been trained on the Patriot battery, which requires up to 90 troops to operate and maintain it.
“Our air defenders have mastered (the Patriot systems) as far as they could. And our partners have kept their word,” Reznikov wrote.
Experts have cautioned that the system’s effectiveness is limited and that it may not significantly change the shape of the war, even though it will add to Ukraine’s arsenal against its bigger enemy.
The Patriot was first deployed by the United States in the 1980s. The system costs approximately $4 million per missile, and the launchers cost about $10 million each, analysts say. At such a cost, it’s not advantageous to use the Patriot to shoot down the smaller, cheaper Iranian drones that Russia has been buying and using in Ukraine.
Material from the New York Times was used in this report.
US-made Patriot guided missile systems arrive in Ukraine
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