NATO allies providing Ukraine with 'historic' air defense 'donation': Biden

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - NATO allies are banding behind Ukraine to provide Kyiv with dozens of new air defense systems over the coming months to help stave off continued Russian aerial attacks, US President Joe Biden said Tuesday.

The "historic donation of air defense equipment for Ukraine" will include contributions from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and the US, Biden said during a ceremony commemorating NATO's 75th anniversary and kicking off the alliance's three-day summit in Washington, D.C.

Germany, Romania and the US will jointly provide Ukraine with additional Patriot batteries, while the Netherlands and "other partners" will send what a joint leader statement described as additional "Patriot components." Italy will send an additional SAMP-T system. A total of five systems will be contributed under the effort.

But the coming months will also see the US and its NATO allies send Ukraine "dozens of additional tactical air defense systems," Biden said.

Those include the NASAMS, HAWKs, IRIS T-SLM, IRIS T-SLS and Gepard systems.

The US president also referenced an earlier announcement that will pause exports of hundreds of air defense interceptor munitions to other allies and partners and will redirect them to Kyiv instead as it continues to face barrages of Russian drone and ballistic missile attacks.

Biden maintained that Russia is "failing" in what he called its "war of choice" against Ukraine, saying that in the over two years that it has been waging the conflict, more than 350,000 troops have been killed or injured. Nearly 1 million other Russians have fled the country "because they no longer see a future in Russia," he added.