KYIV — Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wants the West’s extra, idle Patriot air defense batteries. And he’s not asking nicely anymore.
“Nice and quiet diplomacy didn’t work,” Kuleba, Kyiv’s top diplomat, told The Washington Post in an interview this week.
Patriot, a U.S.-designed air defense system that costs more than $1 billion per battery, has been at the top of Ukraine’s weapons wish list since Russia invaded more than two years ago. Kyiv received its first Patriot batteries last summer, but the three it has now are not sufficient to defend the entire country against Russia’s increased aerial bombardment.
So in a wartime government that tasks each of its top officials with lobbying Western allies for more weapons, President Volodymyr Zelensky delegated a specific track for Kuleba — to persuade countries with spare Patriots to transfer them.
Kuleba emphasized repeatedly that he and Ukraine are grateful for the security assistance that many countries have already provided, but he has also started to air frustrations publicly about the limits of their continued support.
Western aid has declined in recent months — particularly from the United States, Ukraine’s biggest backer, where Republicans in Congress for months have blocked a roughly $60 billion package proposed by President Biden.
The challenges facing Kuleba in his current campaign are emblematic of Ukraine’s predicament in this war going forward: The country’s survival still depends on its partners providing weapons, but few of those partners seem to grasp fully the urgency. Kuleba said he hopes his new style of tougher-talking diplomacy will break through.
“Yes, people may hate me, and I may ruin the relationship,” Kuleba said. “The other part of me is saying diplomacy is all about private relations. But then I told that part to shut up, and the part of me that wanted to speak out started speaking up. We’ve tried everything, and nothing seems to work.”
Kuleba said his team has identified more than 100 available Patriots — some neighboring countries have more than one battery guarding a port or airfield, he said. Zelensky has said Ukraine needs 26 to create a total air shield over Ukraine, but Kuleba is initially focused on obtaining seven as quickly as possible.
That would cover Ukraine’s largest cities and leave at least one free to be closer to the battlefield, where Russian aviation has been punishing Ukraine’s troops on the ground using guided bombs.
Kuleba said he “struggles to understand” the resistance from some countries to transferring at least one of their systems to Ukraine.
During a recent meeting in Brussels marking NATO’s 75th anniversary, Kuleba harshly told those in attendance: “I’m sorry to spoil the birthday party, but who can believe that the mightiest military alliance in the world cannot find seven batteries of Patriots to provide them to the only country in the world that is fighting ballistic attacks every day?”
Kuleba joked that the “luckiest” ministers at the meeting were those who could say they do not have Patriot batteries in their country. “But those who do, they do feel uncomfortable,” he said.
Kuleba said that he is confident Ukraine will eventually receive more Patriot systems but that delays cost Ukrainian lives.
In recent weeks, Russia has increased its attacks on critical Ukrainian infrastructure, causing power outages in some cities, including Kharkiv. Kyiv is focusing its requests for more air defenses on the Patriot because it is the only weapon that can intercept and destroy Russian hypersonic ballistic missiles, such as the Kinzhal.
Though Ukraine keeps at least one Patriot battery near Kyiv, the capital, it has moved at least one of the other two closer to the front to combat Russia’s increased use of guided air bombs.
The Patriots themselves are a high-priority target for Russia, and at least one of the batteries in Ukraine has been damaged. It has since been repaired.
Most of Ukraine’s air defenses date back to the Soviet Union, such as the S-300 system, and the ammunition for it is produced mainly in Russia or countries friendly to Moscow. These Soviet-era systems will eventually become obsolete as Ukraine runs low on ammunition, making the country’s security situation even more dire.
With the $60 billion U.S. package stalled, Kuleba said, Kyiv had identified four other countries in Europe and Asia that have Patriots that could be transferred immediately to Ukraine. Still, he has not stopped lobbying the Americans to send some of their own.
Repeating the caveat that he is appreciative of the arms already supplied by Washington, Kuleba said: “Do you sincerely believe that the whole U.S. Army does not have one spare battery of Patriots that is not on combat duty and that cannot be given to Ukraine? I don’t.”
The United States will be asked to play a role regardless. The ammunition — albeit in relatively small quantities — is produced there. And before any country will transfer a battery, it will ask Washington for permission. Most countries want Washington to commit to replacing any Patriot they might give to Ukraine.
Kuleba has even pitched countries on loaning Patriots to Ukraine, with a promise to return the batteries as soon as requested. And he admitted to feeling deeply frustrated.
“I feel myself hitting the wall with my own head, although I’m a diplomat, and that means I have to dismantle the wall brick by brick,” Kuleba said. “But since this kind of diplomacy doesn’t work, I feel like hitting the wall. I just don’t understand why it’s not happening.”
Kuleba said his change in tactics was triggered two weeks ago, when people in Kyiv were startled by the sound of explosions less than a minute after hearing an air raid siren signaling a possible attack.
Typically, there has been more time to seek shelter. This time, Russia deployed ballistic missiles. They were swiftly intercepted — almost certainly with missiles from a Patriot. Kuleba, however, had a different reaction: If this could happen in Kyiv, Ukraine’s best-protected city, imagine the terror faced by everyone living outside of the capital.
“The problem is that people just got used to the war happening somewhere out there,” Kuleba said. “The feeling that extraordinary decisions are needed on a regular basis to end this war with a victory for Ukraine is gone.”
Siobhán O’Grady and David L. Stern contributed to this report.