EU Must Send Anti-missile System To Ukraine, Borrell: Can't Just Rely On The US, We Have Patriots

Ukrainian air defense. (Wikimedia Commons/Ministry of Defense of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - The EU's main diplomat said the bloc had to send their anti-missile system to increase Ukraine's air defenses as Russia stepped up its onslaught, stressing it could not rely solely on the United States to help Kyiv.

Ukraine faces a shortage of ammunition, especially for the air defense system, as the war with Russia has been going on for more than two years, as critical US funding was blocked by Republicans in Congress for months, while the EU failed to deliver enough timely ammunition.

"We have Patriots, we have an anti-missile system. We have to get them out of our barracks where they are stored and send them to Ukraine where the war is raging," EU Chief of Foreign Policy Josep Borrell said on the sidelines of a meeting of the State Foreign Ministers Group of Seven (G7) on Capri Island, Italy.

"Otherwise, Ukraine's electricity system will be destroyed. And no country can go to war without electricity at home, at factories, online, for everything," he added.

Ukraine's air defenses are a major issue for ministers gathering in Italy, following Germany's call on Wednesday to the European Union and NATO to do more to help Kyiv.

"I'm sure we will do that, but we have to finish it quickly," Borrell said, adding he regretted the "internal politics" in the US delaying a much-needed aid package for Ukraine worth USD 60.84 billion.

"We can't just rely on the US. We have to take our own responsibility and stop saying, 'oh, the US will do it'," he said.

Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the shortage of air defense missiles prevented Ukraine from thwarting a Russian attack that hit the largest power plant in the capital Kyiv region last week.

There were 11 missiles flying. The first seven we destroyed, and the remaining four (the remaining) destroyed Trypilia. Why? Because there was no missile. We ran out of missiles to defend Trypilia," he said in an interview with PBS.

In his evening video address earlier this week, President Zelensky noted three sectors in which Ukrainian troops faced difficult situations in countering Russia's intense attack, namely Chasiv Yar, west of Russia-controlled Kota Bakhmut in the east, as well as Pokrovsk and Kupiansk, further west and north.