Israel’s transfer of Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine remains undecided amidst ongoing threats – Ambassador Brodsky

Israel has not yet decided on transferring Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine due to the current threats facing the country.

The Ambassador of Israel to Ukraine, Michael Brodsky, said this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.

"As far as I know, there is no final decision yet, but if you look at the current situation in Israel, we need all the air defense means that exist in Israel, including the Patriot system," the diplomat said.

Israel has a multi-level air defense system, but the famous "Iron Dome" is not capable of dealing with long-range missiles and ballistic missiles.

It is designed to intercept short-range missiles fired at Israel by Hamas militants.

"We have other systems, mostly Israeli developments or Israeli-American developments. And Patriot is not the most advanced system. We are talking about Patriot installations, which Israel received back in the early 90s before the first Persian Gulf War. You remember, then Iraq fired at Israel with Russian-made Scud missiles. And then the Patriots saved us," said Brodsky.

The ambassador also emphasized that there were talks about decommissioning the obsolete Patriot installations and transferring them to Ukraine, but the final decision has not yet been made.

"As far as I know, there is no final decision yet," the diplomat noted.

The ambassador was asked whether Ukraine's acquisition of Israeli Patriots is directly related to the situation in the Middle East.

"If you look at the current situation in Israel, we need all the air defense assets that exist in Israel, including the Patriot system," he said.

For reference:

As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky noted in July, to fully protect the sky, Ukraine needs at least 25 Patriot air defense systems.

Before that, back in June, the media reported on talks between the United States, Israel, and Ukraine for the sale of eight Patriot air defense systems to Kyiv. This came after Israel announced the decommissioning of eight of its Patriot batteries, which have been in use for over 30 years. The Israeli Air Force plans to retire several anti-aircraft batteries from the MIM–104 Patriot complex in the coming months.

During a meeting headed by President Klaus Iohannis, the Supreme National Defense Council of Romania approved the transfer of the Patriot air defense system to Ukraine.

Also, Ukraine will receive another Patriot anti-aircraft missile complex, which the Netherlands will transfer together with another country.