Germany has transferred PAC-3 interceptor missiles to Ukraine for Patriot air defense systems. This is in fulfillment of the agreements made during the last meeting of Ramstein, that is, the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine. The receipt of the missiles was confirmed by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who on Wednesday, March 11, met in Kyiv with the President of the Bundestag, Yulia Kloeckner. The statement of the head of state, OBOZ.UA reports, citing Ukrinform. The PromPolitInform portal reports.
“Indeed, at the last Ramstein, there was an agreement from the partners that we would receive approximately the number of missiles you are talking about (35 units. – Ed.) for Patriot systems, namely PAC-3. It was not from one country, let’s be honest, from several countries. In total, it was as many as you said. This is one of the air defense packages that we negotiate with partners from time to time. We would have liked more – it turned out the way it turned out. The German part of these missiles arrived yesterday, thank you for that,” the statement says.
What Zelensky and Klöckner discussed
Klöckner, a representative of the Christian Democratic Union, who has been the president of the Bundestag for almost a year, arrived in Ukraine for the first time.
Zelensky received her at the Office of the President, thanked her for her support for our country, and also noted the resolution adopted by the Bundestag on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the full-scale war unleashed by Russia.
“We are also grateful for the energy support during this long, difficult winter with hundreds of challenges in these months. And we are grateful that we were not alone – Germany also made its contribution. Grateful from all our Ukrainians. And to be honest, we simply don’t have time to relax. And we have already prepared energy sustainability plans for next year,” Zelenskyy noted.
According to the press service of the OP, the politicians discussed the continuation of military aid, the volume of which this year should amount to a record 11.5 billion euros. Particular attention is paid to strengthening air defense, further development of the PURL program and the need for additional contributions.
They also discussed increasing joint production of drones. The President of Ukraine emphasized that this will strengthen not only Berlin and Kyiv, but also Europe as a whole. Zelenskyy recalled that in February he was at the first joint Ukrainian-German enterprise for the production of UAVs, calling such cooperation an example of real mutual strengthening.
The conversation touched on the situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region. The President of the Bundestag assured that these events will not affect Germany’s assistance to Ukraine.
“While the world is looking in the direction of Iran, we Germans are looking in the direction of Ukraine, we do not forget you. And that is why I very deliberately went here this time to clearly say that in the fifth year of the war of aggression in which you are engaged, we are not getting tired. And we know that this is not only Ukraine’s struggle. It is about more – about territorial integrity, about self-determination, about democracy. And we also know: both Germany and other European countries are also in Russia’s sights,” said Klöckner.
The next topic was the preparation of the meeting of the delegations of Ukraine, the United States and Russia, which had to be postponed due to the events surrounding Iran.
A special focus was on European issues, including Ukraine’s accession to the EU, the unblocking of the 20th package of sanctions, the implementation of agreements on the allocation of 90 billion euros to Kyiv for the next two years.
“Germany made, I think, one of the strongest contributions to the political decision that was made at the end of last year to allocate 90 billion to strengthen Ukraine in its fight for independence. Thank you,” Zelensky emphasized.
Earlier, Der Spiegel reported that Berlin managed to “collect” a new batch of interceptors for the Patriot air defense system for Ukraine (about 30 PAC-3 missiles). Together with ammunition from the Bundeswehr reserves, the total number of missiles in the package is about 35 pieces.
