European Parliament refuses EU Council budget approval until additional Patriot systems for Ukraine secured

“European Parliament refuses to fulfill Council’s budget until European Council decides to support Ukraine with additional Patriot missile systems,” the statement reads.

He said that EU countries have hundreds of such systems, while Ukraine needs only seven. The decision was supported by 515 parliamentarians, 62 were against.

Partiot air defense systems for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine received US Patriot systems not from US but from partner countries on March 28. He said that money allocated for Patriot systems never came to Ukraine directly. Transfer of these air defense systems was handled by EU countries.

Zelenskyy said that Ukraine had submitted requests for air defense systems to every country that possesses them on March 30.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that he is now working to receive seven Patriot air defense batteries as soon as possible.

According to Kuleba, his team has identified more than 100 vacant Patriots - some neighboring countries use more than one battery to guard a single port or airfield.