Romania to supply Ukraine with its Patriot system, Romanian Defence Council decided

A decision to supply Ukraine with one Patriot air defence system was adopted following the results of a meeting of the Supreme Defence Council of Romania led by Romanian President Klaus Johannis on 20 June.

At the meeting of the Supreme Defence Council, the Ministry of Defence of Romania presented its analysis concerning the state, deployment and importance of the four Romanian Patriot systems for national and collective defence and how supplying Ukraine with one system may change the situation.

"Taking into account the considerable escalation of the situation in Ukraine due to constant large-scale Russian attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, mainly power infrastructure, and the consequence of this situation for the region, including for the security of Romania, the members of the Council in close cooperation with the allies adopted the decision on the transfer of a Patriot system to Ukraine.

This transfer will be carried out on condition that our country will continue the talks with the allies, specifically the US, our strategic partner, with the goal of receiving a similar or identical system which will cover the need of protecting the national air space…The decision was adopted on the basis of in-depth technical assessment by the Romanian authorities, all the measures were taken to remove all risk of creating vulnerabilities for Romania…The discussions with allies regarding the further strengthening of our air defence are ongoing," the statement of the administration of the Romanian President reads.

Romania will keep supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression in different ways.

Romania’s Defence Ministry was against sending Romania’s Patriot system to Ukraine, but the decision was not ruled out.

Negotiations on the possible delivery of the Patriot system to Ukraine started at the beginning of May when Romanian President Johannis discussed this issue with US President Joe Biden during his visit to the US.

In May Johannis stressed that "it is unacceptable for Romania to stay without air defence" and insisted that "if Romania gives something up, it must receive something in return".

At the time Romania had only one active Patriot system but a second one was put into operation on 14 June. The third is expected by the end of the year, the fourth one – until the beginning of 2025.