Ukraine seeks S-300 missiles as Patriot supplies dwindle, Greece unlikely to share

Four years into its war with Russia, Ukraine faces a critical shortage of Patriot missile-defence interceptors after extensive use in the conflict with Iran, prompting a joint U.S.-Ukrainian effort to modernise legacy Soviet S-300 systems and produce a few hundred new missiles by the end of the year. Greece retains a relatively modern S-300PMU-1 system and a cache of 5V55U missiles acquired in the late 1990s, but officials say a transfer is improbable because Moscow would block it and Athens' relations with Kyiv have soured following a maritime-drone incident near Lefkada.

Prior aid from Slovakia and a 2025 Norwegian pledge for S-300 interceptors highlight Ukraine's dependence on allied stockpiles, while Greece's recent $4 billion investment in the Israeli-based Achilles’ Shield air-defence project signals a focus on its own security rather than supplying the Russian-made systems. Analysts note that technical routes exist to move the Greek missiles via the United States or Norway, yet political calculations make such a move unlikely in the near term.