US approves potential $2.1 billion sale of scarce Patriot missiles to Ukraine

Kuba Stezycki/Reuters/File

The US State Department approved the potential sale of 500 Patriot air defense interceptor missiles to Ukraine on Friday, according to a department release .

Kyiv uses the defensive weapons to blunt Russia’s continuous ballistic missile strikes on its territory, but Ukraine’s supply ran dry earlier this month, CNN previously reported. The deal is for the PAC-3 MSE variant of the Patriot — the most advanced version currently in service — that is one of the few weapons capable of shooting down incoming ballistic missiles.

Notably, the purchase is not subsidized or financed by the US, according to the release. Instead, Ukraine is covering the estimated $2.1 billion purchase with funds from Canada, Germany and Norway in addition to a loan from the European Union, the State Department said.

The approval comes after weeks of tensions between the US and Ukraine. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced a deal to allow Russian diesel exports to global energy markets and waived a further slate of sanctions related to Russian fossil fuel sales that had only just been signed into law.

He also threatened to withhold intelligence to Kyiv over its strikes on Russian refineries, and Ukraine’s access to the crucial Starshield satellite system was throttled for a period before it was restored last week.

The Friday release did not specify when the interceptors would be delivered to Ukraine, nor did it specify whether any components of the missiles would be produced there as part of a so-called “offset agreement.”

The State Department said that it was “not aware” of any such arrangement between Ukraine and Lockheed Martin, the defense firm that produces the Patriot, but noted that the matter could be directly negotiated between Kyiv and Lockheed.

Trump made a shock announcement at the July NATO summit in Turkey that Ukraine would receive a license to produce its own Patriot missiles, a move that could eventually alleviate pressure on US production lines amid a munitions shortage linked to the Iran war and growing international demand. But any Ukrainian interceptor factory could take years to build, and the president has seemingly backed off from the move.

The sale nonetheless marks a significant victory for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has appealed repeatedly to Western leaders and to the public for his military to receive more of the crucial defensive weapons.

In an August interview with CNN , Zelensky argued that selling even a small portion of the US Patriot stockpile to Ukraine would be sufficient to “destroy all the Russians’ ballistic missiles.”

The capability is even more important in winter’s frigid months. In a Friday social media video, Zelensky mentioned the Patriot shortage and said that Russia attacked with 17 ballistic missiles overnight, including some that hit oil refining infrastructure in central Ukraine.

Davis Winkie’s work at CNN is supported by a partnership between Outrider Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners (JFP). CNN retains full editorial control of the reporting.

Kuba Stezycki/路透社/文件

据美国国务院周五发布的消息，国务院批准向乌克兰出售500枚“爱国者”防空拦截导弹。

基辅利用这些防御性武器来抵御俄罗斯对其领土持续不断的弹道导弹袭击，但据美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）此前报道，乌克兰的此类武器库存已于本月初耗尽。此次交易涉及的是“爱国者”导弹防御系统的PAC-3 MSE型——目前服役的最先进的版本——它是少数几种能够击落来袭弹道导弹的武器之一。

值得注意的是，根据新闻稿，此次采购并非由美国补贴或融资。美国国务院表示，乌克兰将利用来自加拿大、德国和挪威的资金以及欧盟的贷款来支付这笔预计价值21亿美元的采购款项。

这项批准是在美国和乌克兰之间持续数周紧张关系之后做出的。本月初，唐纳德·特朗普总统宣布了一项协议，允许俄罗斯向全球能源市场出口柴油，并豁免了此前刚刚签署生效的一系列与俄罗斯化石燃料销售相关的制裁措施。

他还威胁要扣留有关乌克兰袭击俄罗斯炼油厂的情报，乌克兰对至关重要的“星盾”卫星系统的访问一度被限制，直到上周才恢复。

周五发布的消息没有具体说明拦截器何时交付给乌克兰，也没有具体说明导弹的任何部件是否会在乌克兰生产，作为所谓的“抵消协议”的一部分。

美国国务院表示，他们“并不知晓”乌克兰与生产“爱国者”导弹系统的国防公司洛克希德·马丁之间存在任何此类安排，但指出基辅和洛克希德公司可以直接就此事进行谈判。

特朗普在7月于土耳其举行的北约峰会上突然宣布，乌克兰将获得生产“爱国者”导弹的许可。此举最终可能缓解因伊朗战争和国际需求增长导致的弹药短缺而给美国生产线带来的压力。但任何乌克兰拦截导弹工厂的建设都可能需要数年时间，而且总统似乎已经放弃了这一计划。

尽管如此，这笔军售对乌克兰总统泽连斯基来说仍然是一次重大胜利，他曾多次呼吁西方领导人和公众向乌克兰军队提供更多关键的防御性武器。

泽连斯基在 8 月份接受 CNN 采访时表示，即使只向乌克兰出售一小部分美国爱国者导弹库存，也足以“摧毁俄罗斯所有的弹道导弹”。

在严寒的冬季，这种能力显得尤为重要。泽连斯基在周五发布的一段社交媒体视频中提到了“爱国者”导弹系统的短缺，并表示俄罗斯连夜发射了17枚弹道导弹，其中一些击中了乌克兰中部的炼油基础设施。

戴维斯·温基在CNN的工作得到了Outrider基金会和新闻资助伙伴（JFP）的合作支持。CNN对报道内容拥有完全的编辑控制权。