- The Greek Prime Minister said his country could not give its Patriots to Ukraine for security reasons.
- Kyriakos Mitsotakis said his country needed it to protect its own airspace.
- Ukraine has spent months begging its allies to recruit Patriots to help repel Russian attacks.
One of Ukraine’s European allies is refusing to hand over Patriot air defense systems, saying it needs them to protect its own airspace.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek Prime Minister, said in an interview with Greek media outlet Iefimerida that his country would not supply Patriots or S-300 missile systems to Ukraine.
“Greece has supported Ukraine in various ways, including through defense means,” he told the outlet on Thursday, according to a translation by Ukrainska Pravda.
“However, from the beginning we have stated that we cannot provide defense systems that are crucial to our deterrence capabilities,” Mitsotakis said.
Athens has supplied Kiev with thousands of rockets, explosives, infantry vehicles, high-explosive incendiary devices, ammunition and anti-tank rockets since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to Reuters .
A breakthrough appeared possible last month when the NATO country reportedly considered sending its Russian-made S-300 air defense missiles to Ukraine, if it could secure American-made MIM-104 Patriots, according to Greek media.
A swap deal with the United States to replace either an Athens-based Patriot system or a Soviet-era S-300 system stationed on the island of Crete also appeared likely, Greek media reported in recent days , by Politico.
But Mitsotakis appeared to return to that point during Thursday’s interview.
“The air defense systems you mentioned are essential for the protection of Greek airspace and will not be supplied to Ukraine,” he said.
Greece has long been in conflict with Turkey, with the two neighbors coming close to military conflict in 1987 and 1996. Both sides have accused each other of violating their airspace in recent years.
Ukraine desperately needs air defenses to help counter Russian attacks.
Earlier this month, his Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, told the Washington Post that his team had identified more than 100 Patriot air defense systems that they believed his allies could spare.
He said they had identified four European and Asian countries with Patriots that could be immediately sent to Ukraine, without naming those countries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said earlier this month that Ukraine needs 25 Patriot systems with six to eight batteries each to fully protect itself.
Ukraine currently has between three and five Patriots, with the exact number and location of their deployment being kept secret.
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