Zelensky Reaches Agreement with Trump on Supply of PAC-3 Missiles for Ukrainian Patriot Systems

During a meeting with US President Donald Trump in Davos, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed on the supply of missiles for Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems.

This was reported by the publication Ukrinform.

The Ukrainian president did not disclose the details of the negotiations, but called the agreement with Donald Trump a success.

“I spoke with President Trump and received, I won’t say how many, PAC-3 missiles for Patriot,” Zelensky said.

Today, the Patriot air defense system is one of the most effective air and missile defense systems of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The system uses three different types of missiles capable of intercepting both air targets at long ranges and ballistic and hypersonic missiles, such as the Kinzhal.

The PAC-2 family of missiles is divided into the PAC-2/GEM — MIM-104D sub-modification, which was adopted in the late 1990s, and the PAC-2/GEM+ variant with the MIM-104E missile, which was adopted in 2002.

These missile variants are the primary means of intercepting air targets and are the most widely used type of missile for these systems. The declared target interception range is approximately 150–160 km.

We also recommend reading the author’s article on Militarnyi: MIM-104 Patriot: the Path to Perfection.

The latest version of the Patriot air defense system is the PAC-3, which was created for a rather difficult task — intercepting short- and medium-range ballistic missiles in their terminal flight path.

The new MIM-104F missile is three times lighter (305 kg) than the PAC-1 and PAC-2 variants (900–910 kg). This has made it possible to increase the total number of missiles ready for launch from four to 16 on a single launcher.

Against the backdrop of interest from most countries in the world in the development of hypersonic weapons, American specialists from Lockheed Martin have developed an improved version of the PAC-3 MSE anti-missile. The new missile is larger in size and has a new rocket engine, thanks to which the interception range of air targets has increased to 120 km, and ballistic targets — to 60 km.

It is worth noting that this complex also became the first anti-aircraft system to actively intercept Russian “Kinzhal” missiles. According to reports by Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat, between February 24, 2022, and early January 2024, the Russians launched 63 Kinzhal missiles, 25 of which were intercepted by the Patriot air defense system.

Ignat did not specify which version was used for the interception, but it can be assumed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces used the Patriot PAC-3 version for the role of an anti-missile complex.

Earlier, Militarnyi reported that in October 2025, Ukraine and the United States began preparing a contract for the purchase of 25 Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems.