The U.S. State Department said Friday it has approved a potential $2.1 billion sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 interceptor missiles to Ukraine, one of the most significant steps to supply defensive weapons to Kyiv since the start of the second Trump administration.
Ukraine will pay for the interceptors with donations from Canada, Germany and Norway routed through a U.S. program called JUMPSTART, along with national funds financed by the European Union’s Ukraine Support Loan, the State Department said in a statement. No U.S. funds are involved. Lockheed Martin is the principal contractor.
“A few years” away
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the approval but warned on Friday that it may take “a few years” for the interceptors to arrive. He had asked the U.S. for a winter support package of 100 interceptors per month, as Russia steps up attacks on energy and civilian infrastructure.
On X, Zelenskyy urged a different approach: “Providing them to Ukraine right now – in the winter of 2026–2027 – and replenishing our partners’ arsenals LATER, in THE FOLLOWING YEARS, through this production already contracted and paid for by Ukraine and our partners would be the right approach.”
Not yet manufactured
The urgency gap is real. Weapons sales typically take years to fulfill, and two people briefed on the decision told Reuters the missiles — which have yet to be manufactured — are not expected to be delivered until a couple of years into the 2030s.
Zelenskyy said earlier in the week that Ukraine had been waiting almost a month for the U.S. to sign off on critical missile supplies, Reuters reported. The approval follows his October 15 warning that Kyiv would only halt its strikes on Russian energy targets if the U.S. sped up air-defense deliveries.
Sources: Reuters; CNN.
