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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday that EU member states have reached an agreement on an exemption allowing Ukraine to purchase vital products for Patriot air defense systems.
In a statement, von der Leyen said that the next tranche, amounting to 3.2 billion euros, will allow Ukraine to better protect its airspace against Russian attacks.
She explained that this payment will be added to the 8.4 billion euros previously provided as a loan to support Ukraine, including aid related to air defense.
The European Commission President reaffirmed that member states reached an agreement on the exemption for purchasing vital supplies for Patriot systems, with the aim of strengthening Ukrainian air defense capabilities.
For his part, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte welcomed the agreement in a statement posted on his account on the social media platform X, which is based in the United States.
Rutte recalled that NATO allies have allocated more than 10 billion dollars over the past year to the Ukraine Priority Requirements List (PURL) program and US Foreign Military Sales for Ukraine.
The NATO Secretary-General emphasized that the alliance and the European Union will continue to work side-by-side to support Ukraine, stressing that the agreement once again demonstrates that "Europe is taking responsibility."
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