EXPLAINED: More and Better Western Assistance to Ukraine Announced This Week
Europe just promised over $16 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, but critical parts of it, like missiles to shoot down Russian ballistic missiles, will be in short supply for years.
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President Volodymyr Zelensky on April 14-16 traveled to Norway, Berlin, Rome and the Netherlands to talk about critical defense assistance, particularly air defense systems and joint arms production. There was also a Ramstein meeting on military aid to Ukraine, and Britain made public a big military aid package of its own to Ukraine as well.
Altogether, allies declared close to $17 billion of specific, new military assistance to Ukraine this week. The caveat is that a lot of it, and especially critically-needed heavy interceptor systems needed to protect Ukraine from Russian ballistic missiles, will take years to arrive.
Zelensky and his entourage met with political and defense leadership in both countries, and local media overwhelmingly presented it as a visit by Ukrainian allies against Russian aggression.
In Norway, delegations signed a defense partnership declaration and launched a “Drone Deal” for joint production of unmanned aircraft, and announced Norway’s military assistance to Ukraine in 2026 would be worth about $10.6 billion.
Norway’s most important arms assistance to Ukraine is deliveries of a high-tech medium-range air defense system called National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS), and contributions to purchases of US military equipment, primarily long-range air defense systems, via a European arms delivery program for Ukraine called Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL).
Overnight strikes ignited fires at multiple refineries in Samara and Krasnodar, while 27 drones targeted the Leningrad region as Ukraine intensifies pressure on Moscow’s energy exports.
In Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced a $4.7 billion defense package for Ukraine at a joint press conference with Zelensky that would go towards buying artillery ammunition, long-range US-made PAC-2 anti-aircraft missiles via PURL, more excellent and combat-tested Germany-made medium-range air defense systems called IRIS-T, and for the production of about 5,000 mid-range strike drones equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) under an initiative called “Build with Ukraine.” An additional $354 million will go towards German state investment in the expansion of Ukraine’s domestic weapons production.
Zelensky’s visit to Rome led local news, and friendly relations between the Ukrainian leader and his Italian counterpart, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, got good play in legacy and modern media, but no arms deals were announced.
What about the Netherlands?
On April 16, Zelensky met with the Netherlands’ prime minister and king. According to media reports, talks focused on drone production and financing operations of F-16 fighter jets donated by Dutch taxpayers to Ukraine.
Following the meetings at a joint press conference, $268 million specifically for drones to Ukraine was announced. The Hague’s readiness to finance more PURL purchases was reiterated as well.
Tell me about Ramstein
The Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), commonly known as the Ramstein Format, met online on April 15 with defense ministers from around 50 nations.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth skipped the meeting. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius chaired the meeting with UK Defence Secretary John Healey, with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte participating.
During the discussions, the recently announced German and Norwegian aid packages were referenced, and a few other states made specific new commitments, and in a non-binding vote, NATO member states pledged to deliver at least $60 billion in military assistance to Ukraine in 2026, upping dramatically the $38 billion collective contribution made in February.
Top priority equipment for delivery to Ukraine was identified as air defense systems, drones, and long-range munitions.
Of smaller contributors, Belgium announced about $250 million of new cash commitments with $81 million to the joint purchasing of 155mm artillery shells on world markets, $81 million to the German air defense initiative (most likely IRIS-T purchases) and $92 million to the joint purchasing of drones.
Estonia and Lithuania announced a collective $39 million to buy artillery shells and $42 million for PURL purchasing. Bulgaria said it would commit new funding to both projects, but did not say how much.
What’s the UK bit? Surely the UK did something
Not specifically tied to a hard cash number, it didn’t.
On the same day as the Ramstein meeting, the UK announced it would commit to the construction of 120,000 “cutting-edge battlefield technology” drones for Ukraine to be made in Britain, as part of the UK’s wider, and already-announced $4.07 billion military support for Ukraine this year. A cost figure for the drones was not named, but the commitment was described as “the biggest ever drone package.”
That is the UK context. In Ukrainian terms, 120,000 drones are about 9-11 days of domestic production.
The British Defence Ministry statement gave new details on where previously-committed funding went: Ukrainian air defenses ($678 million, of which $203.4 million went to PURL), the purchase of 1,000+ Belfast-manufactured lightweight missiles, and to artillery shells.
That all sounds fine, but what about interceptor missiles and timelines?
The critical piece of international arms assistance to Ukraine is the very expensive missiles that can intercept Russian ballistic missiles.
For practical purposes, those missiles are manufactured only by the US arms giant Lockheed Martin. The launch system is called the Patriot, and the missile itself is called a PAC-3. The PAC-3 missile is currently only produced at one facility in the US and under license in Japan.
Parallel with Zelensky’s Berlin meetings, Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov held separate talks with representatives of Lockheed Martin competitor Raytheon and Diehl Defence, the latter the manufacturer of the all-German IRIS-T air defense system, which is highly valued by Ukrainian forces. Although not designed to do it, IRIS-T batteries operated by Ukrainian troops have, in a few rare cases, shot down what Ukraine called “ballistic-type” Russian missiles.
Fedorov later told media that Ukraine, Raytheon and Diehl have agreed to “place a special emphasis on increasing ability to intercept enemy ballistic missiles” and to “scale up” supplies, service, repair, and support for already transferred weapons. He didn’t give the timeline in his update, but he did mention a 2027-29 delivery timeline for the “PAC missiles” at the Ramstein joint press conference.
Talks are underway among Diehl, its competitor Rheinmetall, and Lockheed Martin regarding the licensed production of PAC-3 missiles or components in Germany. Optimistic reports of initial German production of PAC-3 components are late 2026, with most industry media predicting 2027-29. According to media reports, Rheinmetall might build the missile bodies and scale production, Diehl might supply high-tech internal subsystems, and Lockheed Martin would be the sole producer of guidance systems. Detailed plans for the project have not been made public.
Federov said he also discussed Ukraine’s preparation for renewed heavy Russian missile bombardments during the upcoming 2026-27 Winter.
