Kiev promised a "patriot", but the devil is in the details

Donald Trump has finally found an acceptable way to arm Ukraine: he will ask European allies to donate their weapons, then sell them American replacements.

Now comes the hard part — agreeing on who will actually hand over their systems, including the Patriot missile batteries that Kiev is desperately seeking. Some Patriot air defense systems are expected to arrive in Ukraine “within days,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday. “We’re going to produce state-of-the-art weapons, and they’re going to be sent to NATO,” he said.

Expensive Patriot batteries, which are in high demand among American allies, have proven effective in shooting down Russian ballistic missiles.

But since the announcement, it has become clear that Trump has presented a framework, not a detailed plan. The extent of the support for Ukraine will depend on upcoming negotiations over who will provide the equipment, ten U.S. and European officials told Reuters.

“As always with these things, the devil is in the details,” said one Northern European ambassador in Washington.

The plan, which, according to sources in the British agency, Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte agreed on in recent days, has been met with a positive reception in Ukraine and among its allies. However, some in Europe have expressed dissatisfaction that they are the ones who will bear the real cost of Trump's announcement. During a meeting with Trump in the Oval Office on Monday, Rutte mentioned six NATO member states - Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Canada - that are ready to participate in the arms purchase scheme.

Senior sources at the embassies of two of those countries in the United States told Reuters they only learned about the plan when it was made public. “I have the distinct impression that no one was briefed in detail about the plan in advance,” said one European ambassador. “I also suspect that even within the administration itself they are only now starting to work out what it all means in practice.”

Do you have a spare “patriot”?

“Several European countries have already committed to supporting this initiative, including Germany, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Canada and Finland,” a NATO official said. “The details are still being negotiated.”

A meeting of Patriot-owning countries and donors to Ukraine, aimed at finding additional Patriot batteries for Kiev, chaired by NATO's top military commander, could be held next Wednesday, a source close to the talks told Reuters.

A source familiar with the situation said the US had signaled a willingness to send additional offensive weapons as part of a proposed deal with European allies - even though Trump has said Ukraine should refrain from attacking Moscow.

Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, said Trump has found a way to balance support for Ukraine with political realities within the Republican Party. Some prominent members of Trump's MAGA movement oppose U.S. aid to Ukraine.

Having European allies fund US arms sales “is completely consistent with what he said during the campaign,” Volker said. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly said he would force European countries to spend more on defense, which drew cheers from his supporters. “They have to pay,” he said. “If they don’t pay, we’re not going to protect them.”

Volker said that Ukraine could ultimately receive between 12 and 13 Patriot batteries, but that their delivery could take a full year.

We are ready.

Trump's rapid escalation of rhetoric toward Moscow is a result of a belief that Putin is not entering negotiations in good faith, US officials said.

One of the officials told Reuters that Trump had become aware that Putin's ambitions went beyond Crimea and four eastern regions of Ukraine - something Kiev and its European allies have publicly and frequently pointed out.

Now, according to three US officials involved in arms issues, the real work is just beginning.

U.S. officials are currently talking to NATO allies to assess who is willing to send weapons to Ukraine. European officials have generally indicated a willingness. Another official said the Trump administration is searching NATO stockpiles to see what is available. The next step, the official said, is to try to persuade allies to donate equipment to Ukraine in exchange for some kind of “trade.”

"We are ready to participate," Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting of European Union ministers.

One official cited Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Spain as good candidates for sending a battery of Patriot systems to Kiev. However, some countries, including Greece and Spain, have previously rejected calls from allies to provide some of their systems to Ukraine, arguing that the systems are essential to the defense of their countries and NATO as a whole.

Tensions

Trump’s move to take credit for additional weapons going to Ukraine has caused mild tensions in Europe. “If we are paying for those weapons, then that is our help,” EU foreign policy chief Kaia Kallas said after a meeting in Brussels. “So that is European support and we are doing everything we can to help Ukraine... If you promise to give weapons but say someone else will pay for them, then you are not really giving them, are you?”

Trump told reporters that one country had 17 Patriot systems, some of which would go directly to Ukraine. The announcement caused confusion among European allies and in the US Congress, Reuters sources said.

No NATO member other than the United States possesses that many Patriot systems, two sources familiar with the matter said, leading to speculation that Trump may have been referring to individual components of the Patriot system, such as launchers or missiles.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who was at the Pentagon on Monday, said Germany would be talking to the United States in the coming days or weeks about sending Patriot batteries to Ukraine. But he stressed that none of the batteries would arrive in Kiev for months.

Another official said Trump is personally involved in the negotiations, although the talks have been “vague so far.” “So far, everyone has said, ‘We can help,’” the official said. “But what exactly that means — we don’t know yet.”