President of Romania Klaus Iohannis said that he is open to discussing sending the Patriot air defense system to Ukraine. This happened after Germany called on the member states of the European Union and NATO to strengthen Ukrainian air defense.
This is reported by Reuters.
"For the past few weeks, there has been a discussion about who can send Patriot systems to Ukraine. President Biden mentioned it during our meeting and I said I was open to discussion. I have to discuss this in the Supreme Defense Council to see what we can offer and what we can get in return, because leaving Romania without air defense is also unacceptable," Iohannis told reporters after a meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington.
In 2017, Romania signed an agreement to purchase Patriot systems for $4 billion. Today, this is the largest contract for the purchase of air defense among NATO and EU countries. The first batch was delivered in 2020.
While only one Patriot system is operational in Romania, Iohannis said the discussion was about another one that is almost ready for transfer.
The White House said Biden thanked Romania for its commitment to security in NATOʼs east, including the Black Sea region, and applauded its defense investment, which exceeds NATOʼs goal of 2 percent of GDP per country.
- The German government began to look for additional air defense systems for Ukraine from its allies. The Ukrainian authorities have been calling on partners for several weeks in a row to help with air defense systems and ammunition for them. There was a shortage of troops, which allowed Russian missile and drone attacks to penetrate the defenses, hitting energy facilities such as the Trypilska TPP.
- Spain has already handed over Patriot missiles to Ukraine, and the countryʼs defense minister reported the other day that they had already arrived in Ukraine.
- Romania has repeatedly experienced the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Wreckage of Russian drones was found in Romania on the border with Odesa region, in particular, in September, October and December 2023. Romania even built shelters for civilians in the border area near Reni and Izmail.