Pavlo Klimkin, Ukraine's foreign minister from 2017 to 2019, said Ukraine should negotiate with European states to build new air defense systems.
Klimkin made the comments in a new episode of the LIGA.net series "Klimkin Explains." He said the process of manufacturing interceptor missiles for Patriot air defense systems would be long and difficult.
Klimkin said Ukraine needed to talk not only to United States President Donald Trump and his administration but also directly to the manufacturers of air defense systems, which he said Ukraine was already doing. He said Ukraine needed to discuss developing new systems, noting that such work was underway in Europe but not moving quickly. He said some form of European partnership, in which Ukraine takes part without much public discussion, would be the best option for the future.
Patriot licenses still unresolved
Trump promised in early July that he would give Kyiv licenses to manufacture Patriot missiles, but the source noted that issue remains unresolved. Klimkin said that if Ukraine does secure licenses to produce Patriot munitions, it would most likely manufacture them jointly with European countries rather than alone.
Klimkin pointed to Israel as a country that has developed strong missile defense capability. He said Israel is developing the Arrow missile defense system together with the United States, and that European countries including Germany and Finland have purchased it.
Anti-ballistic coalition
Ukraine and Europe launched an anti-ballistic coalition in July. The United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden have joined so far.
On July 15, then-secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, Rustem Umerov, named 12 defense companies that had already joined the coalition. Deputy secretary of the council David Aloyan said Ukraine plans to complete development of the Freyja system in the first half of 2027.
