KYIV — The US State Department has approved the sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 interceptor missiles to Ukraine for an estimated $2.1bn, a deal funded entirely by allies, with no US money involved.
The purchase is being paid for through a programme backed by Canada, Germany and Norway and through the EU’s Ukraine support loan, with Lockheed Martin as principal contractor, the BBC reported.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called it “a strong decision by the U.S. State Department” but warned that deliveries may begin “only in a few years,” urging Washington to find a solution for now. “Right now, the Russians are attacking our energy infrastructure every single day,” he said.
Overnight Russian strikes left about 200,000 households in the Dnipro region and 80,000 in the Kyiv region without power. The sale comes amid a global shortage of interceptors driven by the US–Iran war.
Sources: BBC News, The Guardian
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