Ukraine gives NATO list of urgent air defence needs ahead of Ramstein meeting

Ukraine has handed NATO a list of urgent air defence requirements as allies prepare for a meeting focused on protecting the country from aerial attacks.

An extraordinary meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council at permanent-representative level took place at NATO headquarters in Brussels at Ukraine’s request. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte chaired the session, which came ahead of the 8 September Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting, also known as the Ramstein format.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister for European Integration Serhii Boiev and Brigadier General Serhii Sobko, deputy commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, presented allies with an assessment of current aerial threats. They also submitted a list of priority and urgent requirements for air defence systems.

After the meeting, Ukraine called on its partners to provide additional air and defence assets rapidly, saying they were directly linked to protecting Ukrainian lives. Kyiv also urged allies to mobilise by the end of the year the resources needed to meet NATO’s declared target of €70 billion in military support for Ukraine.

The previous Defence Contact Group meeting took place at NATO headquarters in Brussels on 18 June under the joint chairmanship of the United Kingdom and Germany. Germany’s defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said afterward that Ukraine would receive a three-digit number of air-to-air missiles from German stocks, alongside plans for joint production of unmanned ground systems.