On Saturday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed for the first time ever that Israel has supplied his country with a Patriot air defense system. He indicated it has already been operational for several weeks.
“The system has been installed,” Zelensky said while boasting that at least two more batteries from Israel are expected to arrive at some point in the fall.
It was a surprised announcement, given that for over three years of the Ukraine war, Israel has been persistent in resisting calls to send arms to Israel, given it is more concerned with keeping its delicate relations with Moscow positive. Until now it had only sent non-lethal and humanitarian aid.
Also, Russia has long maintained a military presence on the Mediterranean, along Syria’s coast. But times have changed, and Russia could be packing up its Syrian naval and air bases, given the December overthrow of its ally Assad and the Jolani regime being installed in Damascus. Moscow is suddenly left with less leverage in the region, and has pivoted to growing closer with Iran, which has supplied it with kamikaze drones used in Ukraine.
It likely rubbed Tel Aviv the wrong way seeing Russia deepen its economic, defense, and technological cooperation with Iran, so in light of all of this it has softened its resistance to arming Ukraine.
Back in June, Israel’s ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky was the first to let slip that Patriot systems would protect Ukrainian cities, which was a risk given it has angered Russia. Yet the Ukrainian government had never officially acknowledged this.
But to get US-supplied Patriots to Ukraine, there’s been some trickery and serious diplomatic maneuvering involved in order to make it appear all very ‘indirect’ – in part to prevent Israel from provoking too much wrath out of Moscow.
Back in May, the NY Times presented how the scheme would work:
A Patriot air-defense system that was based in Israel will be sent to Ukraine after it is refurbished, four current and former U.S. officials said in recent days, and Western allies are discussing the logistics of Germany or Greece giving another one.
The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, declined to describe President Trump’s view of the decision to transfer more Patriot systems to Ukraine.
And Kyiv Post has newly acknowledged, “The deployment confirmed an intricate plan, first reported by US media in May, that involved Washington requesting that Israel return an older Patriot system for refurbishment before it was routed to Kyiv.“
Zelensky proposes new plan of defeating Russia: He tells EU to stop buying Russian oil and gas as part of “total sanctions” in order to create “hunger riots,” which would change Russia. Does he believe this himself? pic.twitter.com/Ga1lVBaPMb
— Ivan Katchanovski (@I_Katchanovski) September 27, 2025
Ukraine is seeking to establish a layered permanent defensive air shield based on advanced systems provided by the West. The Trump administration has largely put the brakes on simply donating arms directly, but wants Europe and allies to foot the bill and make the transfers.
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