US Negotiating To Send Israel’s Patriot Systems To Ukraine

In a surprise development, the United States and Israel are currently in negotiations to send eight Patriot air defense systems from Israel to Kiev. Ukraine has for months been eyeing Israel’s retired Patriots, but they still could be needed by Tel Aviv given the country is on the brink of full-blown war with Hezbollah along its northern border and possible bigger confrontation with Iran.

“It would be logical if Israel would give us their Patriot systems, because it would help us—in particular—to destroy Iranian drones used by Russia,” Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the chair of the body’s foreign affairs committee, said in early May.

AFP via Getty Images

It would be a risky venture given Israel-Russia strained ties have for years been in a delicate balance over Syria policy. Israeli jets have attacked Syria with regularity, but Russia – despite having an airbase and large military presence in the country – has sat back and not intervened so long as the targets are ‘Iran-linked’.

Ukraine and the US are now trying to present to Israel that arming Ukraine is in its long-term security interests. Israel has so far avoided doing so on a significant level, other than transferring non-lethal equipment.

The FT writes, “But US officials have sought to convince Benjamin Netanyahu’s government that Russia’s increasingly close ties with Iran, particularly in the field of military co-operation, are a more pressing concern.”

Ukraine currently has at least four patriot batteries and has been essentially begging its Western partners for more. If they are sent from Israel, it’s likely Washington would offer some further incentive to Tel Aviv. FT continues:

Washington gives Israel about $3.8bn annually in military support, and by April had released an additional $14bn in emergency funds for its ally since the war with Hamas broke out.

“It would be fortuitous if these older Patriot missiles were put to good use in another theatre before they aged out,” said Tom Karako, head of the missile defence project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank in Washington, “especially given the levels of US military aid to Israel”.

But again if an expanded war with Hezbollah and potentially Iran opens, Israel will need everything it possesses in terms of an air defense – especially given the hundreds of thousands of missiles believed to be in Hezbollah’s arsenal – which are by and large far more sophisticated than Hamas rockets.

Below: the Iranian-made Shahed 136 “kamikaze drone” loitering munition used in Ukraine by Russia:

Recommended reading this weekend: in-depth study of the Iranian-made Shahed 136 “kamikaze drone”/loitering munition and its use in Ukraine by Russia.https://t.co/82TGilpQp1 pic.twitter.com/xp0d1w1qmL

— Ulrike Franke (@RikeFranke) September 9, 2023

One week ago, a Biden administration statement revealed that it is pausing all shipments of Patriot interceptor missiles to foreign countries and redirecting them to Ukraine. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby confirmed that the “difficult but necessary decision” of prioritizing the delivery of Patriot and NASAM missiles to Ukraine has been made, thus revealing the level of desperation amid the Russian aerial onslaught.