The US has restricted the sale of Patriot systems to Europe: will this affect Ukraine?

The United States has restricted arms sales to Europe, in particular, the Pentagon announced a shortage of Patriot air defense systems and interceptor missiles.

This was reported by The Atlantic.

The first worrying sign was the refusal to conclude a deal with Denmark, which sought to purchase American weapons, but as the deadline approached, the Pentagon suddenly lost interest.

It later became known that the US had recorded a shortage of certain types of weapons and was taking measures to block new sales requests coming from Europe.

According to the US Department of Defense, the US has only 25% of the interceptor missiles needed for the Pentagon’s military plans.

As noted, if the delay is long-term, there is a risk of weakening the allies’ defenses.

“We tell the Europeans we want them to send weapons to Ukraine and buy replacements, but then we say, ‘You can’t get them.’ We also tell them to defend themselves, but then we say we won’t sell them what they need to do that,” said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

At the same time, American officials assured that restrictions on arms sales to European countries would not apply to Ukraine, as military aid to Kyiv comes through a separate program.

Recall that due to large-scale Russian attacks and the slowdown in American supplies, Ukraine is facing a threat of a shortage of air defense equipment .

By the way, Ukraine will receive two more modern Patriot air defense systems from Germany. The first launchers have already been transferred to the Ukrainian side, and the full transfer of the two systems is in the final stage.

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