US approves a $2.1 billion sale of 500 Patriot interceptors to Ukraine, but deliveries could be years away

The Trump administration on Friday approved a proposed $2.1 billion sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 interceptor missiles to Ukraine, a deal that comes after Kyiv accused the Pentagon of holding up deliveries of the air defense missiles it needs to stop Russian ballistic missiles, The Associated Press reported.

The package includes the missiles along with parts and support. No U.S. money is involved. Ukraine will pay with contributions from Canada, Germany and Norway routed through a program called US JUMPSTART, along with national funds financed by the European Union's Ukraine Support Loan, the State Department said, according to Reuters reporting carried by Al Jazeera. Lockheed Martin is the principal contractor. Reuters described the sale as one of the most significant steps to supply defensive weapons to Kyiv since President Donald Trump began his second term in January 2025.

The missiles will not arrive soon. They have yet to be built, and two people briefed on the decision told Reuters they are not expected to be delivered until a couple of years into the 2030s. One of them said Ukraine's Defense Ministry is urging the Pentagon to move the date up, possibly by handing over missiles already in the U.S. arsenal and replacing them with the new ones later.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it a "strong decision by the US state department" in a post on X early Saturday, but added that deliveries "may begin ONLY IN A FEW YEARS," The Guardian reported. "We are asking our American partners to find a solution for the time when there is a real danger and a real need to use PAC-3 interceptors," he wrote.

The State Department said the sale "will improve Ukraine's capability to meet current and future threats by improving its integrated air and missile defense capabilities." It did not give a delivery estimate.

The Patriot is considered the most effective system for knocking down fast-moving ballistic missiles, and Russia has stepped up its attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks, including strikes on the capital, Kyiv, according to Reuters. In July the U.S. Army awarded Lockheed a contract worth up to $58.6 billion to produce Patriot interceptors, and the company has said it plans to triple PAC-3 production capacity by the end of 2030.