The US has reportedly moved around 90 Patriot missiles from a storage facility in Israel to Poland, with the intention of delivering them to Ukraine. This is according to a report by Axios, citing three sources familiar with the matter.
According to the US news portal, Ukrainian officials approached the US and Israel after the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) decided to decommission the system, proposing to send the missiles back to the US for refurbishment and then deliver them to Ukraine. However, Israel allegedly did not respond for months, Axios sources said, due to concerns that Russia might retaliate by delivering advanced weapons to Iran.
A Ukrainian official told Axios that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to take their calls for weeks, regarding the issue of the Patriot system.
The source claimed that Netanyahu wanted a concession from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy regarding the annual pilgrimage of ultra-orthodox Israelis to Uman in Ukraine, before he agreed to the Patriot deal. Netanyahu’s office, however, denied any connection between the two issues.
A high-ranking Israeli official told Axios that Israel had informed Russia in advance of the action and emphasized that it was “only returning the Patriot system to the US” and not delivering any weapons to Ukraine.
The official said Israel had informed Russia that the move was similar to one two years prior, when the US delivered artillery shells from an Israeli emergency storage in Ukraine.
A spokesperson for the Israeli Prime Minister confirmed that a Patriot system had been returned to the US, but added: “We are not aware if it was delivered to Ukraine.