US President Donald Trump is pressuring the German leadership to hand over a battery of the MIM-104 Patriot anti-aircraft missile system (AMS) to Ukraine.

The Axios portal reported this, citing its own sources.

Unnamed Axios sources told Axios that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told Trump that Germany was ready to finance the purchase of Patriot systems from the United States for their subsequent transfer to Ukraine.

For his part, Trump suggested that Merz sell Ukraine one of its Patriot systems. According to sources, the United States and European allies are ready to share the costs of the purchase.

According to Axios, Trump and Merz have not yet been able to reach an agreement. Discussions between Washington and Berlin on this issue are still ongoing.

At the same time, unnamed officials from Germany said that since the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Berlin has provided Kyiv with “a very high percentage of its Patriots,” even more than the United States.

It should be noted that, according to information from open sources, Germany has provided Ukraine with three full-fledged batteries (fire units) and four launchers. The German army still has nine Patriot complexes in service. Some of them are used for training personnel, and several are deployed on the territory of allied countries.

Axios also writes that Western allies are concerned about the reduction in stocks of Patriot interceptor missiles.

“Getting a Patriot missile is not the same as going to Walmart, taking 10 off the shelf and going home,” the portal quotes an unnamed Trump adviser as saying.

The war in Ukraine and periodic conflicts between Israel and Iran have led to a significant reduction in Patriot ammunition in NATO countries. The allies fear that the missile stocks will be used up faster than they can be produced.

As the Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, today, July 8, it became known that during the last telephone conversation, Trump promised President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the United States would urgently transfer 10 interceptor missiles for the Patriot air defense system to Ukraine.

As a reminder, in May, The Economist wrote that due to slow progress in scaling up the production of interceptor missiles for the Patriot air defense system, Ukraine will not be able to obtain a sufficient number of them at least until the end of 2026.

Also, at the end of May, the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that the occupiers had modernized ballistic missiles, which complicated the operation of the Patriot air defense system.

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