Bloomberg: Kyiv asks Germany for Patriot missiles as Russia ramps up ballistic missile production

Ukraine is under strain due to Russia ramping up production of ballistic missiles and continuing to improve their capabilities.

This was reported by Bloomberg, citing a source.

According to the agency, Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly appealed to allies for additional missiles for Patriot air defense systems, but has been unable to succeed due to dwindling weapons stockpiles in Europe.

Bloomberg’s sources said that Kyiv has turned to Germany for help and proposed transferring Ukrainian interceptors to it in exchange for dozens of Patriot missiles. The agency assessed that Germany is currently the only European Union country capable of making a “meaningful contribution” on this matter.

Germany has previously supplied Ukraine with Patriot missiles from its own stockpiles. In March, Der Spiegel magazine reported that German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius had reached an agreement with some European partners on delivering more than 30 PAC-3 missiles to Ukraine, some of which were allocated from Bundeswehr stockpiles.

In addition, in April Germany agreed to allocate a aid package of around €3.4 billion to Kyiv for strengthening air defense systems. According to Bloomberg, the package provides for the delivery of “hundreds” of interceptor missiles.