After Game over, now Goodbye "Patriot"

As they further clarified, the US "will not give away the 'Patriots' for free", but could sell them either for hard currency or for concessions.

"Patriot" is by far the most expensive and valuable weapon system operated by Ukraine, and the US exports it for approximately 2.5 billion dollars per system, although some sources have indicated a price of 1.5 billion dollars, according to the Novosti writing of the militarywatchmagazine.com portal.

Zelensky asked a lot, Trump answered him: When you start a war...

The Ukrainian leadership has made extreme demands for the transfer of Patriot systems on a massive scale, and President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called for the transfer of 20 or more systems.

• Game over for "Patriot"

"We need 20 of these systems, and that is definitely 35 billion dollars. If the US gives us 35 billion dollars in the form of the 'Patriot' system, we will consider it invested. We, in turn, are ready to invest the same amount from our side," he said in February.

Commenting on President Zelensky's request, US President Donald Trump said at the beginning of April that Zelensky always asks for missiles:

"He's always asking to buy missiles... Look, when you start a war, you have to know you can win a war, right? You don't start a war against someone 20 times your size and then hope people give you some missiles."

Dried up?

The United States was the first to promise to provide Patriot systems to Ukraine on December 22, 2022, soon followed by Germany and the Netherlands.

According to some data, the first system arrived in Ukraine on April 18, 2023, and subsequent deliveries were made by several countries throughout NATO.

However, now the United States is struggling with a lack of Patriot air defense systems for its own forces, which has reduced the likelihood of providing Ukraine with those systems on favorable terms.

As early as April 2024, Assistant to the President for National Security Jake Sullivan confirmed that the United States would not be able to provide new Patriot systems to Ukraine, despite President Zelensky's recent requests for "at least seven" new units.

"US Patriot systems are currently being deployed around the world, including in the Middle East, to protect US troops. If we could get additional US Patriot batteries, we would send them. But we are very much in the business of supplying the missiles that go into those batteries that are fired in the Middle East," he added.

And the stocks of European NATO members' systems have also been severely reduced, leaving little room for further transfers.

In April 2024, the then German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, spoke about this.

"Unfortunately, stocks, especially of our own Patriot systems, are now quite depleted. Therefore, I made it clear at the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting that we need to check the availability of all Patriot systems in Europe and globally and that we will make every effort to get these systems to Ukraine," she said.