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NATO’s annual summit in Lithuania kicked off with major new pledges of military support, with new missile systems and tanks heading east from Germany and France.
While Ukraine’s leadership may have expressed disappointment that it is not to join the alliance at this annual conference of the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), it can take heart in two member states timing the announcement of new weapons packages for the start of proceedings.
Germany announced a nwew €700 million military aid package Tuesday morning which covered a series of new transfers of military equipment. Perhaps most significant was the donation of two Patriot missile batteries, the advanced Raytheon-made air defence system which has been instrumental in protecting Ukrainian cities from air raids.
The first Patriot missile batteries arrived in Ukraine earlier this year — and not a moment too soon, according to allegedly leaked military intelligence — but the systems are expensive and rare, leading the country to say it needs “much more” from the West.
