The first Patriot air defense systems promised to Ukraine by President Donald Trump will take at least eight months to arrive, Der Spiegel reported Wednesday,
The German newspaper, citing sources familiar with the plan, added that additional Patriot batteries for Ukraine are expected to take even longer to arrive.
The delay is reportedly in part due to confusion among NATO allies over Trump's original proposal, but it has now become clear that the president was urging European countries to transfer systems from their own stocks to Kyiv in exchange for later replacement by the U.S. defense contractor RTX Corporation, which manufactures the Patriot.
The first battery is expected to come from Germany, but will not be ready for shipment until this coming spring — when the German military receives a replacement battery originally slated for Switzerland.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has urged Washington to speed up the delivery of replacement systems, saying that "we expect NATO to approach the U.S. and make clear to the manufacturer that countries donating their Patriot systems should receive new ones within a few months.”
Pistorius has repeatedly emphasized that Berlin can only transfer more Patriots from its arsenal if they are quickly replaced by deliveries from the United States.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday, however, said that that Germany has yet to receive a timeline from Washington on when it can expect replacement Patriots for systems sent to Ukraine.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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