Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Oct. 26 that U.S. approval for Patriot and NASAMS missiles had been pending for nearly a month as Kyiv presses for more air defense supplies before winter.
Zelensky said the decision required U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s signature. He directed his team to raise the matter with Washington again and said Ukraine was speaking with countries that hold PAC-2 and PAC-3 missiles.
Under NATO’s Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), allied governments fund U.S.-supplied equipment for Ukraine, and NATO coordinates its delivery. The alliance reported more than $6 billion in commitments through the program as of June 2026. An Oct. 23 NATO statement said support through PURL, including air defense equipment, was continuing but did not address the status of the batch Zelensky described.
In separate remarks in Mumbai on Oct. 20, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a batch awaiting Hegseth’s signature could be delayed as the United States and its partners weighed their interceptor needs. He denied that Washington had issued a deliberate political directive to harm Ukraine. Rubio did not identify the shipment he was discussing.
Zelensky had asked European Union leaders for 300 Patriot interceptors before winter on Oct. 16. That request was not a delivery commitment.
Zelensky said Ukraine was preparing for a November meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group and called for quicker action on decisions already made. He gave no date for the meeting.
