The US State Department approves a deal to supply Ukraine with Patriot missiles. What is its importance?

On Friday, the US State Department approved a potential deal to sell 500 Patriot air defense interceptor missiles to Ukraine, according to a statement issued by the ministry. Kiev uses these defensive weapons to confront the ongoing attacks launched by Russia with ballistic missiles on its territory. However, Ukraine's stock of these missiles ran out earlier this month, Ufaq News reported in a previous report.

The deal concerns the PAC-3 MSE version of the Patriot system - the most advanced version currently in use - and is one of the few weapons capable of shooting down incoming ballistic missiles. The statement pointed out that this purchase does not have financial support or funding from the United States. Ukraine will cover the estimated cost of $2.1 billion through funds provided by Canada, Germany and Norway, in addition to a loan from the European Union.

This approval comes in the wake of weeks of tension between the United States and Ukraine. Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump announced an agreement allowing the export of Russian diesel to global energy markets and abolished an additional set of sanctions related to Russian fossil fuel sales, even though those sanctions had only just been passed into law.

Trump threatened to withhold intelligence information from Kiev against the backdrop of its attacks against Russian oil refineries, while Ukraine's access to the vital satellite system "Starshield" was restricted for a period of time, before it was reactivated last week. The statement issued on Friday did not specify a date for the delivery of the interceptor missiles to Ukraine, nor did it clarify whether any of the components of these missiles would be manufactured inside Ukraine.

The US State Department stated that it was "not aware" of the existence of any such arrangement between Ukraine and Lockheed Martin, the defense company that manufactured the Patriot system, noting at the same time that this matter could be negotiated directly between Kiev and the company. Trump surprised everyone during the NATO summit held in July in Türkiye by announcing that Ukraine would obtain a license to manufacture Patriot missiles locally. This is a step that would have eased the pressure on American production lines in light of the ammunition shortage associated with the war on Iran and the increasing international demand.

However, building a Ukrainian factory for interceptor missiles could take years, and Trump appears to have backed away from the move. However, this deal is an important victory for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has repeatedly appealed to Western leaders and public opinion to provide his army with more vital defensive weapons.

In an interview with Ofek News in August, Zelensky argued that selling just a small portion of the US Patriot missile stockpile to Ukraine would be enough to "destroy all Russian ballistic missiles." This ability becomes more important during the harsh winter months.

In a video clip he posted on social media on Friday, Zelensky pointed out the shortage of Patriot missiles, and stated that Russia launched an attack with 17 ballistic missiles during the night, some of which hit oil refining infrastructure in central Ukraine.