During a meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House on Tuesday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced that he will join the US and Germany in sending Patriot missiles to Ukraine. Patriots are among the most sophisticated air defense systems available to the West, and Rutte’s announcement has both practical and symbolic significance, signaling Western commitment to the defense of Ukraine. The United States was the first to send Patriot systems to Ukraine last December, followed by Germany earlier this year.
Rutte has not yet given details on how many Patriot systems he intends to send to Ukraine and how concretely he wants to assist the Ukrainian military in using them. The Patriots are surface-to-air missiles mounted on a truck, with launch systems that can hold up to four missiles each, as well as a radar to intercept incoming attacks and an electrical power generator. The Netherlands’ military currently has four, and it’s unclear how many it will send to Ukraine. Rutte, however, told Dutch broadcaster NOS that he plans to both send the systems to Ukraine and train soldiers on how to use them.
