The United States plans to send Patriot missiles to Ukraine. Why can they change the balance of war?

By Courtney Kube, Mosheh Gains and

WASHINGTON — The United States is poised to approve sending a battery of Patriot missiles to Ukraine, three US defense officials announced Tuesday, finally acceding to an urgent request from Ukrainian leaders desperate for more robust weapons to shoot down incoming Russian missiles. .

The approval from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will likely come later this week and could be announced as early as Thursday, according to officials.

Two Defense officials said the missile battery will come from Defense Department stockpiles and be flown in from another country abroad.

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Officials indicated late last month that provision of the system was being discussed.

A senior defense official said that all air defense capabilities were "on the table" and later said: "Patriot is one of the air defense capabilities that is being considered."

The sticking point at the time was who would provide it.

According to officials, the US plan would be to send a Patriot battery.

A Patriot truck battery includes up to eight launchers, each of which can hold four missiles.

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, a control station, computers and generators, typically requires about 90 soldiers to operate and maintain.

However, it only takes three soldiers to actually fire it, according to the Army.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pressed Western leaders on Monday to provide more advanced weapons to help his country in the war against Russia.

The Patriot would be the most advanced surface-to-air missile system the West has provided to Ukraine to help repel Russian airstrikes.

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In a video conference on Monday, Zelenskyy told host country Germany and other leaders of the G7 industrial powers that his country needed long-range missiles, modern tanks, artillery, missile batteries and other high-performance air defense systems. technology to counter Russian attacks that have left millions of Ukrainians without power and water.

Patriot missiles at Rzeszow-Jasionka airport, March 25, 2022, in Jasionka, Poland. Evan Vucci / AP

He acknowledged: "Unfortunately, Russia still has an advantage in artillery and missiles."

And he affirmed that protecting Ukraine's energy facilities from Russian missiles and Iranian drones "will be the protection of all of Europe, since with these attacks Russia is causing a humanitarian and migratory catastrophe not only for Ukraine, but also for the entire EU." .

White House and Pentagon leaders have consistently said that equipping Ukraine with additional air defenses is a priority, and Patriot missiles have been under consideration for some time.

The officials said that as winter approached and the Russian bombardment of civilian infrastructure intensified, the consideration took on a higher priority.

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Pentagon and State Department officials did not confirm the plan to provide Patriots to Ukraine in briefings Tuesday.  

CNN was the first to report the possible approval by the Administration of a Patriot battery.

US authorities had been reluctant to supply the weapons to Ukraine because it could be seen as an escalation that would trigger a response from the Kremlin.

In addition, the Patriot requires significant training, and it was feared that US troops would have been needed to operate it.

President Joe Biden has strongly rejected sending US combat troops to Ukraine.

Patriot missile systems and other similarly sophisticated surface-to-air weapons are in high demand among US allies, including Eastern European countries, worried they could be Russia's next targets.

The United States has a limited number of these systems, which it has deployed in the Middle East and Europe in recent years to help its allies guard against the threat of ballistic missiles from countries like Iran.