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Ukraine is contracting a supply of about 1,000 Patriot missiles over the coming years with the help of allies and through an EU loan, Kyiv’s defence minister, Yevhenii Khmara, said on Tuesday as the country’s allies met. Germany announced it is “urgently” sending Ukraine part of its stockpile of Patriot Pac-2 interceptors. Berlin’s defence minister, Boris Pistorius, appealed to other supporters of Ukraine “to look into their own stocks and make similar deliveries”. The long-established Pac-2 version destroys ballistic missiles and aircraft by exploding and shredding them with shrapnel, whereas the latest upgrade, the Pac-3, is a higher precision “hit-to-kill” missile that rams into its targets.
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“I am aware that it is not easy to strike a balance between one’s own security requirements and urgently needed support to Ukraine,” Pistorius said. “But please, if in doubt, decide in favour for Ukraine.” Before the defence contact group meeting started, the UK announced it had committed £100m to boost Ukraine’s air defences by buying US military equipment that will include Patriot interceptors, write Dan Sabbagh and Jamie Grierson. The commitment also covers large-calibre ammunition and drones.
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Regarding Patriots, Khmara, Kyiv’s defence minister, stressed: “The majority of these [1,000] missiles will only start to be shipped in the coming years, which is why we ask that you supply us the missiles from your stockpiles today.” The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said Ukraine will be able to put the next €3.2bn (£2.7bn; US$3.7bn) disbursement from the EU’s support loan towards Patriot. Ukraine says it needs 300 Patriot interceptors to defend itself through the winter. Khmara said Ukraine was also being hindered by a shortfall of $27bn in financing for drone supplies.
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Khmara said Russia was making no strategic gains along the 1,200km (750-mile) frontline, but was trying to compensate with “terror against Ukrainians”. Russia resumed its near-constant drone and missile attacks on Kyiv on Tuesday after a brief halt for the visit of US peace negotiators. Officials said five people were killed in the capital and more in several regions.
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There are signs of a successful operation by Ukraine’s Third Army Corps to recapture a Russian-held finger of land near the strategic town of Lyman in the Donetsk region. War analysts said the action liberated more than 200 square kilometres of territory. In a video posted on Monday, Andrii Biletskyi, commander of the corps, stood in the monastery town of Sviatohirsk west of the salient and taunted Putin over the Russian president’s recent claim that Moscow’s forces had captured it. Military analyst Emil Kastehelmi, of the Finland-based Black Bird conflict analysis group, told Reuters that the extent of the Ukrainians’ gains remained unclear.
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September and October could see the year’s most intense fighting in Donetsk, with Russia potentially trying to stage new mechanised assaults, Michael Kofman of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told Reuters. “As the weather conditions deteriorate, drones become less effective. And that’s usually where Russians try to return mobility to the battlefield.” But Ukraine had developed a solid defence against such attacks, Kofman added, pointing to a failed Russian assault in July near the city of Dobropillia. Russian forces are less than 15km (9 miles) from Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the two main cities in the “fortress belt”. Both are under worsening strikes by drones and guided bombs, regional officials have said.
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Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on Tuesday had an hour-long phone call, a summary of which was only available from the Kremlin at time of writing. Trump called for a speedy end to the fighting, said Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. Putin “pointed out what the Americans could realistically do to bring the hostilities to a swift conclusion” and stressed that Russia had “no aggressive plans” towards Europe. Volodymyr Zelenskyy meanwhile said Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators could meet as early as this month. “If all sides agree, we also want to hold it in the autumn. If September works out, then it would be great. The earlier, the better.” A Bloomberg report predicted no serious moves towards peace by Russia until 2027.
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Romania’s SRI intelligence service said it prevented a sabotage operation coordinated by Russia on Romanian territory. “The Russian citizen was instructed by an intermediary to make photo-video materials with targets of strategic military interest, including Ukrainian Antonov cargo aircraft during their presence on the national territory.” Suspected Russian agents tried to blow up an Antonov in August at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany. The SRI said: “The investigation also revealed that the Russian Federation continues to use persons from vulnerable categories to carry out such illegal activities.”
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Russian authorities said they detained a suspect in last week’s shooting of a senior military officer. The Federal Security Service said a 21-year-old Moldovan national was arrested for being allegedly “involved in an assassination attempt” at the behest of Ukrainian intelligence services. Russia’s investigative committee said the officer was shot at least six times on 3 September on the outskirts of Engels. The city in the Saratov region hosts Russian strategic bombers that are used to attack Ukraine.