MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/. The European Commission (EC) has approved Ukraine’s request to buy interceptor missiles for the Patriot system, using funds from the EU €90 billion loan, Hromadske reported, citing sources.
Kiev will have to submit purchase contracts for review to the EC before the decision on actual payments is made.
On August 25, EC Spokesman Balazs Ujvari told a briefing in Brussels that the EU's executive body had not authorized Kiev to use funds from the bloc’s €90 billion military funding program, which mandates the priority procurement of weapons for combat operations against Russia from European defense firms, to purchase Patriot air defense systems from the United States. However, news emerged on September 1 that Ukraine filed a formal request to the EC to allow it to use more than €2 billion from the broader funding package on Patriot interceptor purchases.
