Ukraine and Sweden discuss urgent air-defence aid after Russian strikes

Ukraine's defence ministry highlighted the urgency of bolstering its ability to neutralise ballistic threats, calling for swift delivery of Patriot system interceptors. The ministry is ready to cooperate on various supply channels and has asked Sweden to allocate IRIS-T missiles and man-portable air-defence systems with ammunition. Discussions also covered accelerating the provision of Gripen fighter jets and continuing pilot training programmes.

Kyiv has existing contracts for Patriot missiles and is proposing to exchange current interceptor stocks for future allocations. Ukrainian officials thanked Sweden for its consistent support, noting that the additional hardware would markedly improve Ukraine's capacity to defend against Russian aircraft dropping guided bombs on frontline cities.