The Netherlands is not the only country that is ready to purchase a Patriot battery for subsequent transfer to Ukraine right now. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, during a national telethon United News.
"I'll disclose a small diplomatic secret: the Netherlands is not the only country ready to buy a Patriot battery from any country in the world at the price that country names," he said.
Kuleba noted that the public signal from the Netherlands was extremely important, as was the statement by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that NATO standards should not be used as an excuse when making decisions about transferring air defense systems to Ukraine.
"In essence, when some countries say to us, 'We can't transfer a battery to you because then we won't comply with the NATO standard for the number of batteries we have,' and the secretary-general says to them, 'Don't use me as an excuse. Give Ukraine everything it needs now. That's the main thing,' " explained the Foreign Minister.
According to Kuleba, there has never been such activity from partners regarding the provision of air defense assets to Ukraine.
"There is no need to search for batteries anymore; everyone knows where these batteries are. Everything Ukraine said before has been confirmed. There are even more batteries than a hundred. There is a clear understanding of which countries can quickly deliver batteries, so today we have taken a step towards making important decisions. The German example is certainly an additional incentive," said the Foreign Minister.
Kuleba added that there has never been such intensity of work by partners on providing air defense to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
"We are talking about a very simple thing: if the time frame for supplying batteries is one month, then this does not prevent you from making the appropriate announcement today. If the supply is two weeks, this also does not prevent you from making the announcement today. It is very important now to send a clear signal, firstly to all Ukrainians, and secondly to Putin, that Ukraine will have everything necessary for defense and victory," the minister explained about the negotiations.
