Germany will provide Ukraine with five Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems "as soon as possible", announced German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius during the online meeting of the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine in the "Rammstein" format. This is the 29th consecutive meeting of the allies dedicated to military assistance to Kiev.
"Germany will provide additional air defense systems and the necessary ammunition", said Pistorius, quoted by RBC-Ukraine. He specified that during his visit to Washington last week, he reached an agreement with US Representative Pete Hegseth for Germany to participate in the initiative to provide five urgently needed Patriot systems to Ukraine.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmygal, who participated in the Ramstein-style meeting for the first time in his new capacity, called on the US to make the Patriot systems available for purchase and asked European partners to provide the necessary funding.
The US was represented at the meeting by its NATO ambassador Matthew Whitaker. It is expected that specific steps on financing, logistics and the delivery schedule for the promised systems will be coordinated in the coming days.