Europe has acknowledged a shortage of air defense systems available for transfer to Ukraine

Europe does not have enough of its own air defense systems to support Ukraine.

This was stated by Pekka Toveri, a member of the Ukraine–EU Parliamentary Association Committee in the European Parliament.

“The problem is that there are very few European systems available right now. For example, the fact that France provided one of its SAMP/T systems to Ukraine for testing is a good sign. If this system proves effective, especially against ballistic missiles, its production could be ramped up fairly quickly,” Toveri said.

At the same time, he noted that other European systems are also being supplied, and that this is a positive signal. The politician recalled that the European Parliament has regularly emphasized the need to provide Ukraine with air defense systems. In this connection, members of the European Parliament insist that Kyiv should be able to freely use the €90 billion loan to make purchases anywhere in the world, Toveri said.

On March 30, Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine would look for alternatives to Patriot missiles because of the global shortage. On April 3, he added that there had so far been no signals that U.S. weapons deliveries to Ukraine would stop, but that Kyiv must be prepared for such a possibility.