Romanian President says he's ready to discuss transferring Patriot to Ukraine
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said that he is open to discussing the issue of providing Ukraine with the Patriot air defense system.
Reuters reports that Iohannis said this to reporters in Washington after a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden.
"There has been a discussion about who can send Patriot systems to Ukraine over the last few weeks… President Biden mentioned it ... in our meeting and I said I was open to discussion,” Iohannis said.
According to him, he is to discuss this issue with Romania's Supreme Defence Council "to see what we can offer and what we can get in return, because it is unacceptable to leave Romania without air defences".
As reported, Romania signed a $4 billion deal to get Patriots in 2017, the NATO and EU state's biggest procurement contract to date, with the first shipment delivered in 2020.
As reported, Germany promised to provide Ukraine with an additional Patriot battery, and Spain said it would provide anti-aircraft missiles for these systems.
Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine needs at least seven Patriot air defense systems.