Ukraine is ready to buy ten Patriot air defence systems to protect some cities, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
“One system costs 1.5 billion dollars, we are ready to buy, and we need at least 10 systems to close some cities, only civilian, city centres where people congregate. And that’s 15 billion. We are ready to pay this 15 billion dollars, we will find this money and pay everything,” – said Zelensky in an interview with CBS News.
He noted that he does not understand why it is not possible to agree on additional Patriot systems for Ukraine. “Especially since there was such an agreement at the NATO summit in Washington, the anniversary summit. And we never received these additional Patriot systems. I respect the choice of the United States, but when the United States did not give us such systems or did not sell us, we are ready for any format. The issue is not about money and some European partners are ready to help financially so that we could get the corresponding expensive systems,” the head of state said.
According to the President, another option to protect Ukraine, which he offered to the administration of current US President Donald Trump, as well as the previous administration of Joe Biden, is licences for the production of Patriot systems and missiles to them.
“I asked for licences to produce Patriot systems and missiles to those systems. We wanted to pay for it, have the licences, and then already understand how, in what terms we can build a full-fledged system of closing our skies,” Zelensky said.
He added that there are countries in the world where Patriot systems are standing and where there are no military operations, “they could transfer them to us.”
“We were even ready to even get them on lease. Realising that if there is some challenge in one country or another, if they need to bring them back very quickly, we will. There are many formats on how to ensure this. You need desire and that’s all,” the President said.
Kiev has consistently urged its Western allies to supply more advanced weapons and air defence systems that would help it, on the one hand, protect the skies and, on the other, allow it to strike military targets deeper into Russia to prevent Moscow’s attacks.
Earlier this month, Yuriy Ignat, head of the communications department of the AFU Air Force Command, said that Russia’s modernisation of cruise missiles was making it difficult for even the most advanced systems, particularly Patriot SAMs, to operate.