BREAKING NEWS: Ukraine will buy about 1,000 Patriot missiles with EU loan funds: Khmara revealed important details

This proposal was announced by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine at a meeting in the “Ramstein” format.

Ukraine is offering its closest partner countries an exchange of Patriot anti-aircraft missile interceptors to shoot down Russian ballistic missiles . The proposal envisages that the allies will provide Ukraine with interceptors from their stocks now, and Ukraine will reimburse them in the future after newer versions of the interceptors that were contracted are manufactured.

As an UNIAN correspondent reports, Ukrainian Defense Minister Yevheniy Khmara said this during his first participation in the meeting of the Contact Group on Defense Issues of Ukraine (“Ramstein-36”), which is taking place online.

Khmara noted that on the night of September 8, the enemy decided to carry out another massive air attack with the launch of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and a Shahed drone with jet fuel.

“Our air defense managed, among other things, to intercept 31 out of 32 cruise missiles. But the situation with ballistics is much more complicated. And this complexity is precisely due to the lack of Patriot missiles,” Khmara emphasized.

According to him, Russia is aware of this and is trying to exhaust Ukrainian air defense, economy, and society.

In addition, according to him, to ensure Ukraine’s stability, solutions are needed in the field of air defense. Khmara emphasized:

“We are contracting for about a thousand missiles for Patriot systems with the help of our partners and thanks to the EU loan. And again, we are grateful to you for this.”

However, as the minister explained, most of these missiles will only arrive in the coming years.

“So, we ask you to supply us with missiles from your stockpiles today in exchange for future improved missiles under our contracts,” Khmara emphasized.

He also emphasized the importance of supplying Ukraine with air-to-air missiles and means to counter jet drones and cruise missiles.

Ukraine urgently needs additional funding for defense development by November

As the Minister of Defense of Ukraine emphasized, financial decisions needed to support Ukraine must be made today.

He recalled that this year at the NATO summit in Ankara, 70 billion euros were promised to help Ukraine in the security sector. “Currently, we see that partners are already providing 62 billion euros, including bilateral assistance and an EU loan. Thank you for that,” Khmara said. But the additional 8 billion euros have still not been allocated to Ukraine.

He also reminded us that the overall defense deficit currently stands at 23 billion euros (or $27 billion). These funds will allow us to raise funding for drone production to ensure stable deliveries this year and early next.

“Up to 90% of our success on the battlefield depends on drones. I ask you to make the necessary financial decisions by November so that we can see results on the battlefield this winter,” Khmara emphasized.

(c)UNIAN 2026