Zelensky challenges the West over ‘immobile’ Patriot systems.

Kiev has redoubled its calls for the currently unused Patriot air defense systems after NATO pledged to increase its deliveries to Ukraine to protect the country’s airspace.

“Air defense systems can only be called ‘patriots’ if they work and save lives instead of standing idle somewhere in storage bases,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in a social media post on Sunday. “The patriots must now be in the hands of the Ukrainians.”

Intensive Russian aerial bombardment has forced Ukraine to intensify its increasingly desperate search for air defense on the ground. Moscow launched rocket attacks on vital infrastructure and residential areas in Ukraine.

American-made Patriot missiles, the gold standard of air defense credited with intercepting Russia’s supposedly unstoppable hypersonic missiles, are at the top of Kiev’s wish list.

“Give us the damn patriots,” Kiev Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Politico in late March. Shortly afterwards, Zelensky said the country needed 25 Patriot systems, with up to eight batteries each, to “cover all of Ukraine.” Kuliba said WashingtonPost Earlier this month, securing seven systems was his immediate priority.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Thursday that Berlin will provide Kiev with a third Patriot system, and urged other European leaders to increase donations to air defense.

Attention quickly turned to the number of Patriot systems Kiev had, after years of declining defense spending in Europe raised concerns about NATO’s ground protection equipment.

European militaries have about 100 Patriot batteries, said Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top diplomat. But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said there were “significantly” fewer than 100 in Europe.

“We know that many countries are sitting on large piles of Patriot systems and may not want to transfer them immediately,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Wednesday. “We can buy it from them, we can supply it to Ukraine and we have the money available. It is crucial.”

Burrell said Thursday that Patriot systems were available at the barracks, stored “just in case.”

Stoltenberg told media on Friday after a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council that the alliance would strengthen Ukraine’s air defense arsenal.

“NATO has identified existing capabilities across the alliance and there are systems that can be made available to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said.

Kuleba said earlier this month that “active negotiations” were underway for two more Patriot systems, without elaborating. Financial times It was reported that Ukraine was in talks with Spain and Poland about these systems, citing unnamed officials.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved more than $60 billion in aid to Ukraine on Saturday, after potentially game-changing aid to Kiev languished in Congress for months, mired in political infighting. Lawmakers also agreed to provide billions more in aid to other U.S. allies. The Senate will now vote on the package before it goes to President Joe Biden for his signature.

Matthew Saville, director of military sciences at the Britain-based Royal United Services Institute, said air and missile defense systems were likely to be a priority in this package after Ukraine exhausted much of its resources against recent Russian airstrikes.