USA and Spain will supply Patriot missiles to Ukraine at a time when “everything depends on the speed” of Kiev and its allies: day 794

The United States of America announced, through Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, that it will provide Ukraine with more Patriot missiles for its air defense systems as part of an additional aid package worth 5.61 billion euros.

The missiles will be used to resupply previously supplied Patriot air defense systems and are part of a package that also includes more munitions for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS), and additional equipment to integrate air defense launchers, missiles and Western radars on existing weaponry in Ukraine.

But the help won’t just come from the US, Spain — one of the few countries in the European Union with Patriot missiles — will send some to Ukraine. The announcement was made by Defense Minister Margarita Robles, without specifying how many missiles would be sent. In addition to the long-range Patriot air defense missiles, Spain will send ammunition of various types.

This Friday, the President of Ukraine said, together with the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine, that it was more weapons needed, highlighting the importance of long-range missiles and air defense systems. Zelensky said that “the fate of the world” is at stake in the war in Ukraine and “everything depends on how quickly” Kiev and its allies act.

Furthermore, the Ukrainian President admitted that Russia managed to “seize the initiative” on the battlefield during the months it took the United States Congress to approve the latest aid package.

Other news that marked the day:

⇒ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the international community to pressure Russia to return the Zaporijia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, warning against a new catastrophe like that of Chernobyl, almost four decades ago. “The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was occupied for 35 days. Russian soldiers looted the laboratories, captured the guards and mistreated the staff, using them to launch new hostilities,” said Zelensky, in a speech given on the 38th anniversary of the nuclear catastrophe (1986), highlighted this Friday.

⇒ Kiev City Council announced the emergency evacuation of two hospitals in the Ukrainian capital, including a pediatric unit, due to fears of Russian attacks on these healthcare establishments. “The city is beginning to urgently evacuate two hospitals, including a children’s hospital,” the municipality announced on the Telegram network.

⇒ The British Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to London, Andrei Kelin, after a 20-year-old British man was accused of attacks on “companies linked to Ukraine”, according to a statement released today. “The United Kingdom remains deeply concerned about allegations of malicious activity orchestrated by Russia” on British soil, said a ministry spokesperson, quoted in the briefing note.

⇒ Russian President Vladimir Putin today called on political parties to include veterans of the war in Ukraine in their lists of candidates for local and federal elections. “I count on political parties to nominate and actively support these candidates during election campaigns at all levels,” Putin declared during his speech at the meeting of the Council of Russian Legislators held in St. Petersburg.

⇒ Russia bombed the Ukrainian railway network to prevent the passage of a convoy carrying weapons from Western allies, reported a source from Kiev security authorities, an allegation, however, confirmed by the Moscow army. According to a Ukrainian official, quoted by the French news agency AFP, the attack aimed to “paralyze” the supply of military supplies, part of which was sent by Western countries to help Kiev fight Russia.

⇒ The People’s Republic of China considered the criticisms of NATO’s secretary general who accused Beijing of providing military technology to Russia in the campaign against Ukraine to be unfounded. Beijing Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbing criticized Stoltenberg’s comments as being “meant only to deflect blame and inflame tensions against” the People’s Republic of China.

⇒ Russian authorities have detained a Russian journalist who works for the local edition of the North American magazine Forbes for allegedly spreading information about army abuses in Ukraine, his lawyer announced. Serguei Mingazov is detained in Khabarovsk, in the Russian Far East, for having republished “publications about the events in Bucha”, said Konstantin Bubon. The lawyer was referring to a massacre in 2022 that the Russian army is accused of, despite having denied it, in the suburbs of Kiev.

⇒ The head of NATO described the alleged cases of pro-Russian espionage in Germany and the United Kingdom as “dangerous and unacceptable”, and warned that the allies are coordinating the reaction to hostile acts. “We must be attentive to Russia’s secret activities in the alliance’s territory,” said Jens Stoltenberg in Berlin alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, quoted by the Spanish agency EFE.