Ukraine on Wednesday confirmed the arrival of Patriot surface-to-air missile defense systems from Western allies.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov wrote on Twitter that his country had received the powerful defense weapons, which he described as being like to a "dream." Oleksandr Pavliuk, Ukraine's first deputy minister of defense, later added in a Telegram message that the systems were provided by the United States, Germany and the Netherlands.
On Tuesday, Germany was the first to announce it had delivered a Patriot system and missiles to Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz first promised in January to provide Ukraine with a full battery of Patriots. (A battery typically consists of four to eight units with four rockets each.) The Netherlands and the United States had also pledged months ago to send Patriot systems to Ukraine, and Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder said in March that 65 Ukrainian soldiers who had traveled to Oklahoma to learn how to use the systems had completed their training.