Greece and Spain are refusing to hand over missiles for Patriot systems, whose service life is expiring, to Ukraine. This is reported by The Telegraph, citing European diplomats. According to the publication, the two countries prefer to store the ammunition in storage, although the Ukrainian army needs them to protect energy infrastructure in the winter.
Athens and Madrid have some of the largest stockpiles of interceptor missiles in Europe. Representatives of NATO and the European Union are trying to convince their governments to hand over at least the Patriot PAC-2 missiles, which will soon become unusable.
Greece alone stores at least 200 such missiles, whose stated service life is 23 years and is approaching its end. The European allies are looking for diplomatic options to help both sides decide on their transfer to Ukraine.
Kiev expects more missiles for the winter
The issue of the shortage of missiles for air defense is becoming more acute against the background of the expected Russian strikes on the Ukrainian energy system. Ukrainian intelligence has intercepted a Russian plan that envisages attacks on large hydroelectric power plants on the Dnieper and Dniester, western electricity interconnections, urban thermal power plants, water supply and treatment facilities.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has repeatedly called on partners to increase supplies of Patriot missiles. According to him, up to 360 interceptor missiles are needed to successfully pass the winter campaign.
Ukraine received 675 missiles in 2023 and 364 in 2025. For 2026, the delivery of 264 missiles is planned under the US PURL program and bilateral packages.
Production does not cover all requests
European Commissioner for Defense Andrew Kubiliu and the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Kaia Kallas have stated that Western air defense systems and missiles for them have been redirected to the Middle East.
The production of PAC-3 missiles by the American company Lockheed Martin has reached about 600 units per year in 2025. According to published information, this volume is not enough to simultaneously cover the needs the US military, US allies in the Persian Gulf and Ukraine.
Sources: telegraph.co.uk