Romanian parliament approves Patriot system delivery to Ukraine
Romania's lower house of the parliament approved a bill on Sept. 3 to transfer a Patriot air defense system to Ukraine, Reuters reported.
The bill is yet to be signed by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, after which the government will issue an order for the delivery to proceed.
The move came days after Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged foreign partners not to delay and provide Kyiv with the promised Patriots. The highly advanced Patriot systems have played a crucial role in protecting the Ukrainian sky. They are capable of downing even the most advanced ballistic missiles, such as Kinzhals.
Ukraine has received at least three Patriot systems from Germany and one from the U.S. Other countries, like the Netherlands and Spain, delivered individual launchers or missiles.
The U.S. and the Netherlands also pledged in June to deliver one additional system each, but no announcement on their arrival has been made so far.
Hesitant at first, Bucharest decided to donate one of its Patriots in June. Iohannis said that the transfer of the Patriot system to Kyiv must not compromise Romania's air defense capabilities.
The document approved by the Romanian parliament states that replacing the Patriot system should not cost more than Romania originally paid for the unit. The costs are expected to be covered by "non-refundable foreign sources."
Bucharest signed a deal in 2017 to obtain Patriot systems but so far only has two that are operational. The second one was put into service in June.
Russian drone fragments and debris have been found on Romanian territory on numerous occasions after Moscow's attacks on Ukrainian port infrastructure on the Danube River, prompting Romania to install anti-drone systems, bunkers, and other security measures in the area.
During a NATO summit in Washington in July, the allies pledged to deliver "dozens" of air defense systems in the coming months.
Faster air defense deliveries are ever more crucial now as Russia launched its largest aerial attack against Ukraine throughout the full-scale war on Aug. 26.
