BRUSSELS: Ukraine is still getting essential defense equipment despite the war in the Middle East, which is depleting stockpiles in Europe and the United States, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Thursday.
"The good news is that essential equipment into Ukraine continues to flow," he told reporters. That included American-made Patriot missile interceptors, which Ukraine desperately needs, he added.
The PURL program, launched last year, allows Ukraine to receive US equipment financed by European countries.
Some 75 percent of the missiles used by Patriot batteries in Ukraine have been supplied through the program, and 90 percent of the munitions used by other air-defense systems, Rutte added.
Questioned about the state of the stockpiles and the pressure they are under due to the need for missile interceptors in Israel and the Gulf states, Rutte declined to comment. But he did call on European countries to increase their own production capacity.
"They need to produce more extra production lines, extra shifts, opening new factories. The money is there," he said.
