In response to a question from Radio Free Europe, the Greek prime minister noted that his country has already provided significant air defense capabilities.
Will Greece provide missiles?
At the same time, I want to be completely frank: we will do everything possible to support Ukraine without undermining Greece’s defense capabilities. We are also in a security-sensitive region and have other obligations, but we stand with Ukraine and always try to do everything we can,
Mitsotakis said.
According to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, the Ukrainian side has asked Athens to provide up to 200 PAC-2 missiles. Kyiv assumed that after 23 years in service with the local air force, some of these munitions might be nearing the end of their service life.
As Bloomberg previously reported, as early as this summer, NATO and EU allies began urging Greece and Spain to share their stockpiles of interceptor missiles with Ukraine.
One EU official confirmed to reporters that the European Union is “assisting” the Ukrainian government in negotiating the transfer of these missiles with the countries that have them in service. However, he refused to characterize these actions as pressure.
Air Defense Shortage in Ukraine
It should be noted that the situation regarding air defense capabilities remains critical. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that a severe shortage of missiles for the Patriot system exists, and Ukraine is not the top priority for the allocation of PAC-2 and PAC-3 systems.
Furthermore, due to a global shortage of interceptors, Ukraine’s stockpiles for these systems are practically exhausted.