Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Zelenskyy "Support 10 to 12 Patriots with Russia Freeze Assets" Request


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy requested on the 10th (local time) to provide 10 to 12 additional US interception systems, Patriot air defense systems, using Russia's frozen assets.

According to Reuters and others, after meeting with European Parliament officials in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, President Zelensky said, "If we deploy 10 to 12 more Patriot systems in Ukraine, our lives will be guaranteed and the war for Russian President Vladimir Putin will be meaningless," adding, "The air defense system should save lives, not just dust from the storage." He asked for the Patriot support by securing the necessary financial resources from frozen Russian assets. "If we spend 30 billion dollars (about 43 trillion won) in Russian assets, we can fully protect our sky," he explained.

The U.S. is providing Ukraine with the Patriot air defense system, which is equipped with a powerful radar system and a mobile missile launcher. Ukraine is known to operate three Patriot air defense systems, including one that it received from the U.S. and two that it received from Germany. The Patriot air defense system produced by Raytheon, a U.S. defense company, costs about 1 billion U.S. dollars per battery and about 3 million dollars for one missile that is mounted on the battery.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has provided Ukraine with a $20 billion (W28.6 trillion) loan with proceeds from frozen Russian assets. It is part of a $50 billion (W71.6 trillion) support package that the G7 member states agreed on in June. The funds will be delivered to Ukraine through the World Bank and will be used to maintain emergency services, hospitals and other infrastructure in the country. The World Bank estimates the cost of rebuilding Ukraine to be more than $411 billion (W589 trillion).

"Support through frozen assets makes Russia pay for illegal wars instead of taxpayers," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. "This funding will be important support for Ukraine, which defends itself against a war of aggression without provocation."

The U.S. and its allies, including the EU, have frozen $325 billion (W465.5 trillion) worth of Russian assets since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. At the G7 summit held in June, they agreed to provide $50 billion based on the annual interest of $3 billion (W4.3 trillion) generated from the assets. It is a method of raising collateral in the international market with interest income as collateral. In the same way, the European Union has also pledged more than 18 billion euros (W27 trillion) in funding.