During a videoconference with European leaders on Wednesday 17 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky once again called for air defence equipment to be sent to Ukraine, including Patriot, IRIS-T, SAMP-T and NASAMS systems.
“Ukraine needs them right now to prevent Putin from using terrorist methods”, he stressed, also advocating the sending of weapons for Ukrainian soldiers, whether shells, vehicles or even drones. “Anything that helps to hold the front line”, he summarised.
In the conclusions they adopted, the European leaders stressed “the need to urgently provide air defence to Ukraine and to speed up and intensify the delivery of all the necessary military assistance”.
The European Council called on the EU ‘Foreign Affairs’ Council, particularly at its next meeting on 22 April, and on the Member States to ensure the necessary follow-up.
Speaking to the media, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, while highlighting the efforts to increase the production of defence capabilities, explained that more needed to be done. “We are examining whether it is possible to make greater use of the stocks available in terms of air defence systems”, he said.
Strongly condemning Russia’s ongoing air and missile attacks on Ukrainian civilian and critical infrastructure, the EU and its Member States pledged to step up humanitarian and civil protection aid, “including equipment such as power generators and power transformers”.
On his arrival at the summit, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose country has just promised Ukraine a Patriot battery, called on the Europeans to do the same. “It's useful straight away and we want to encourage others to do it”, he explained.
For the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, “ the question is to know what level of anti-aircraft defence (of each country) is necessary and whether you can now lower that level slightly so as not to let Ukraine lose and Russia win. This is always a very delicate discussion and a political choice that we must make”.
“We need to provide more, particularly in terms of ammunition and anti-aircraft defence. This is currently the most important objective for all NATO members", emphasised Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg earlier in the day.
He called once again for increased support for Ukraine, explaining that if the Allies had to choose between achieving NATO’s capability goals and providing more aid to Kyiv, they should choose the second option. “We have systems that are large enough to enable us to provide much more to Ukraine in terms of anti-aircraft defence in general and also in terms of Patriot batteries, and that’s exactly what we’re working on”, he said.
At Mr Zelensky’s request, a NATO/Ukraine Council will meet on Friday and, according to Mr Stoltenberg, is expected to focus on air defence systems and munitions.
To see the European Council’s conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/btv (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant, with the editorial staff)