Biden unveils additional air defense aid for Ukraine at NATO summit

President Joe Biden kicked off NATO’s 75th anniversary summit Tuesday by announcing an agreement with four other countries to provide additional air defense systems for Ukraine — a priority for Kyiv as it struggles to thwart Russian missile attacks.

Speaking at Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., the site where the original members of the alliance signed the North Atlantic Treaty, Biden framed it as “a historic donation of air defense equipment for Ukraine.”

“The United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Italy will provide Ukraine with equipment for five additional strategic air defense systems in the coming months,” he said. “The United States and our partners intend to provide Ukraine with dozens of additional tactical air defense systems.”

The United States, Germany and Romania will donate additional Patriot batteries while the Netherlands donates Patriot components. Additionally, Italy will donate a SAMP-T system.

The five countries noted in a statement that they are working on a “further announcement this year of additional strategic air defense systems for Ukraine.”

The U.S. and various allies also “intend to provide Ukraine with dozens of tactical air defense systems, including NASAMS, HAWKs, IRIS T-SLM, IRIS T-SLS and Gepard systems,” according to the joint statement.

Biden’s announcement comes weeks after the U.S. moved Ukraine up to the front of the queue for Patriot and NASAM interceptors.

“Ukraine will receive hundreds of additional interceptors over the next year, helping protect Ukrainian cities against Russian missiles and Ukrainian troops facing their attacks on the frontlines,” he said.

The White House has said that Ukraine will receive many of these interceptors by the end of the summer. Over the next 15 months, Kyiv will take precedence over several other countries seeking to buy U.S. air defense systems. The administration has not divulged which countries will face delays in acquiring interceptors as a result of the decision, except to note that the decision will not impact Taiwan or Israel.

Biden’s announcement comes one day after a Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital , killing at least 31 people. The barrage targeted five Ukrainian cities with 40 missiles, wounding more than 150 people, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is in Washington this week for the summit.

Other NATO member countries are expected to announce additional security packages for Ukraine at the summit this week.

“Together we’ve built a global coalition to stand with Ukraine,” said Biden. “Together we’ve provided significant economic and humanitarian assistance. And together we’ve supplied Ukraine with the weapons it needs to defend itself: tanks, armored vehicles, air defense systems, long-range missiles and millions of munitions.”

“The United States and nearly two dozen allied partners have signed a bilateral security agreement with Ukraine,” he said.

Bryant Harris is the Congress reporter for Defense News. He has covered U.S. foreign policy, national security, international affairs and politics in Washington since 2014. He has also written for Foreign Policy, Al-Monitor, Al Jazeera English and IPS News.

周二，美国总统乔·拜登在北约成立75周年峰会上宣布与另外四个国家达成协议，向乌克兰提供额外的防空系统——这是基辅的当务之急，因为乌克兰正努力阻止俄罗斯的导弹袭击。

拜登在华盛顿特区的梅隆礼堂发表讲话，这里是北大西洋公约组织最初成员国签署《北大西洋公约》的地方。他将此举描述为“向乌克兰捐赠防空装备的历史性事件”。

他说：“美国、德国、荷兰、罗马尼亚和意大利将在未来几个月内向乌克兰提供五套额外的战略防空系统设备。美国及其伙伴计划向乌克兰提供数十套额外的战术防空系统。”

美国、德国和罗马尼亚将捐赠额外的“爱国者”导弹系统电池，荷兰将捐赠“爱国者”导弹系统组件。此外，意大利还将捐赠一套SAMP-T系统。

这五个国家在一份声明中指出，他们正在努力“在今年进一步宣布向乌克兰增派战略防空系统”。

根据联合声明，美国及其盟友还“打算向乌克兰提供数十套战术防空系统，包括NASAMS、HAWK、IRIS T-SLM、IRIS T-SLS和Gepard系统”。

拜登的声明是在美国将乌克兰提前列入“爱国者”和“NASAM”拦截导弹的预定名单几周后发布的。

他说：“未来一年，乌克兰将收到数百枚额外的拦截导弹，这将有助于保护乌克兰城市免受俄罗斯导弹的袭击，并保护在前线遭受俄罗斯攻击的乌克兰军队。”

白宫表示，乌克兰将在夏季结束前收到大部分拦截导弹。在接下来的15个月里，基辅将比其他几个寻求购买美国防空系统的国家享有优先权。美国政府并未透露哪些国家会因此决定而导致拦截导弹的采购延误，仅表示该决定不会影响台湾或以色列。

拜登宣布这一消息的前一天，俄罗斯导弹袭击了乌克兰最大的儿童医院，造成至少31人死亡。据本周正在华盛顿参加峰会的乌克兰总统泽连斯基称，此次袭击使用了40枚导弹，目标是乌克兰的五个城市，造成150多人受伤。

预计其他北约成员国将在本周的峰会上宣布对乌克兰的额外安全援助方案。

拜登说：“我们共同建立了一个支持乌克兰的全球联盟。我们共同提供了大量的经济和人道主义援助。我们还共同向乌克兰提供了它所需的武器，以保卫自身：坦克、装甲车、防空系统、远程导弹和数百万发弹药。”

他说：“美国及其近二十个盟国伙伴与乌克兰签署了双边安全协议。”

布莱恩特·哈里斯是《防务新闻》的国会记者。自2014年以来，他一直在华盛顿报道美国外交政策、国家安全、国际事务和政治。他还曾为《外交政策》、《Al-Monitor》、《半岛电视台英语频道》和IPS新闻撰稿。