The United States is redirecting air defense missiles promised to other countries to speed up their delivery to Ukrainian forces, the White House national security spokesman said Thursday. According to John Kirby, hundreds of Patriot missiles could reach Ukrainian forces this way. As a reason for this decision, he stated that Ukraine urgently and immediately needs relevant additional military capabilities to defend against Russian air attacks.
A senior National Security Council official said the United States must make a difficult but necessary decision when it reprioritizes planned sales in the near future to other countries' militaries.
He did not say which countries would have to wait for the required air defense equipment.
But he noted that the decision does not affect Taiwan's needs to maintain self-defense capabilities against China.
John Kirby also reported that the rerouting of shipments will be for a period of 16 months, during which time Ukraine will receive the assets on a priority basis as they roll off the assembly line. According to his conclusion, the anti-aircraft missiles arriving in Ukraine represent sufficient capabilities for Ukraine during the aforementioned period.
The White House official described the reaction of countries affected by the postponement of deliveries as generally understandable.
Adding that they also know the extent of the dire need that Ukraine suffers from.
The Ukrainian President's Chief of Staff announced that Ukraine will sit down to negotiate with Russia at the next international conference, through which the course of peace negotiations will be determined. However, the Kremlin has repeatedly made clear that it does not intend to participate in the Ukrainian peace plan.
