Ukraine, allies scour the world for coveted air defense systems

MILAN — While Ukraine and Western allies have spent the last year scouring the world for ammunition, the attention has now shifted to the urgent need to find spare Patriot systems to close gaps in Kyiv’s air defenses.

The quest to find these highly coveted weapons has intensified over the last month, as Russian troops have carried out relentless attacks on Ukraine’s critical and civilian infrastructure.

The pursuit has engendered something of a guilt-cycle as to which countries have surpluses of Patriots and should take on the task to send them at the risk of going below their strategic minimal levels of military capabilities.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Joseph Borrell, said last week that it was “inconceivable” that Western countries were unable able to come up with the seven additional batteries Kyiv has requested, given that allies have approximately 100 batteries in their inventories.

Germany, which recently announced it was sending a third Patriot system to the embattled country, has taken it upon itself to put together a coalition to acquire more of these systems on behalf of Ukraine.

Reports that the Bundeswehr had appealed to non-NATO countries’ contributions in a written letter, including Arab Gulf states, were confirmed by Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

The Ukrainian official was present this week at the G7 ministerial meeting taking place in Capri, Italy, where he met with the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss the sole issue on his agenda: air defense.

“We focus on them [the U.S.-made Patriots and the Franco-Italian SAMP/T systems] for a simple reason: they are the only systems capable of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles and this is the real turning point in the war as it’s impossible to do with any other type of air defense system,” Kuleba was quoted as saying by the Italian media network RAI Italia at the meeting.

Different schemes have been proposed to gather more of the equipment. One suggestion came from Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, aimed at states that might have policies in place that prevent them from directly transferring weapons to Kyiv.

“We know that many countries have Patriot systems but maybe do not want to deliver directly. We can buy from them and we can deliver to Ukraine. We have the money available. It’s crucial,” Rutte said at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels this week.

This workaround was echoed by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the Italian-hosted G7 meeting. The official affirmed that allies possessing Patriot or SAMP/T systems have been asked to supply them to Ukraine, and that those who do not should provide money to buy some.

Kyiv has further taken matters into its own hands, floating the idea that the assets could be loaned temporarily to them.

The country also solicited Poland and Spain for an extra Patriot battery as well as Romania for an additional SAMP/T system, according to the Financial Times.

Polish officials have maintained that they cannot afford to send Patriots to Ukraine, as Warsaw is still expecting the U.S. to deliver part of the $15 billion Patriot order it placed last year.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

米兰——尽管乌克兰及其西方盟友在过去一年里一直在世界各地搜寻弹药，但现在他们的注意力已经转移到迫切需要找到备用的“爱国者”导弹系统，以弥补基辅防空系统的漏洞。

过去一个月，随着俄罗斯军队对乌克兰的关键基础设施和民用基础设施发动持续不断的袭击，寻找这些备受觊觎的武器的行动也愈演愈烈。

这场争夺战引发了一种内疚感，即哪些国家拥有过剩的爱国者导弹，应该承担起派遣这些导弹的任务，冒着军事能力低于其战略最低水平的风险。

欧盟外交政策负责人约瑟夫·博雷尔上周表示，鉴于盟国库存中约有 100 块电池，西方国家无法提供基辅要求的 7 块额外电池是“不可思议的”。

德国最近宣布将向这个饱受战火蹂躏的国家提供第三套“爱国者”导弹防御系统，并主动组建联盟，代表乌克兰获取更多此类系统。

有报道称，德国联邦国防军已致函非北约国家（包括阿拉伯海湾国家）呼吁其做出贡献，乌克兰外交部长德米特罗·库列巴证实了这一消息。

本周，这位乌克兰官员出席了在意大利卡普里岛举行的七国集团部长级会议，并与美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯会面，讨论了他议程上的唯一议题：防空。

据意大利媒体 RAI Italia 报道，库列巴在会议上表示：“我们之所以重点关注它们（美国制造的爱国者导弹系统和法意联合研制的 SAMP/T 系统），原因很简单：它们是唯一能够拦截俄罗斯弹道导弹的系统，这是战争的真正转折点，因为使用任何其他类型的防空系统都无法做到这一点。”

为了收集更多装备，各方提出了不同的方案。其中一项建议来自荷兰首相马克·吕特，旨在促使那些可能制定了阻止其直接向基辅输送武器的政策的国家采取行动。

“我们知道很多国家都有爱国者导弹系统，但可能不想直接交付。我们可以从他们那里购买，然后交付给乌克兰。我们有资金。这至关重要，”鲁特本周在布鲁塞尔举行的欧盟领导人峰会上表示。

北约秘书长延斯·斯托尔滕贝格在意大利主办的七国集团峰会上也表达了类似的观点。他重申，已要求拥有“爱国者”或“SAMP/T”导弹防御系统的盟国向乌克兰提供这些系统，而那些没有此类系统的盟国则应出资购买。

基辅方面进一步采取了行动，提出了将这些资产暂时借给他们的想法。

据《金融时报》报道，该国还向波兰和西班牙寻求额外的“爱国者”导弹系统，并向罗马尼亚寻求额外的SAMP/T系统。

波兰官员一直坚称，他们无力向乌克兰运送爱国者导弹系统，因为华沙方面仍在等待美国交付去年订购的价值 150 亿美元的爱国者导弹系统的一部分。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。