Ukraine's NATO partners assure Zelenskyy they will send air defence missiles from stockpiles

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has publicly called on Ukraine's partner countries to supply air defence missiles from existing stockpiles. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte assured him that work on this is already underway.

Referring to Ukraine's growing need for interceptors for its air defence systems, Zelenskyy said partner states could do more by providing missiles they already have to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

This should not be a substitute for funding the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) programme, under which arms are purchased from the United States, but should complement it, the president stated. "We continue to work together with Mark and all our partners to maintain Euro-Atlantic cooperation," he added, referring to NATO plans to fund PURL.

"But what is currently in our partners' stockpiles should actually be working to protect [Ukrainian airspace]," Zelenskyy emphasised during a joint press conference with Rutte in Kyiv.

Rutte said that many countries, including Türkiye, Norway, Canada and Spain, are reviewing their stockpiles to determine what they can provide to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including A120 and A9X air-to-air missiles and PAC missiles for Patriot systems, which are critical for Ukraine's air defence.

Rutte also stated that European countries will allocate over US$15 billion to purchase weapons for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Prior to his visit to Kyiv, Rutte also called on EU countries that "are sitting on large piles of interceptors" to send these missiles to Ukraine.

Supply disruptions remain a sensitive issue for Kyiv. Zelenskyy said that he had grounds for his harsh criticism of Europe at Davos after a lack of funding led to a shortage of air defence missiles.