Ukraine & US reached agreement on Patriot interceptor licences

Ukraine and the US have reached a political agreement on licences for production of Patriot interceptors.

This, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy adds that key supplies of the missiles are to arrive in the next few days.

The Patriot is a US-made air defense system that is one of the few Western weapons capable of shooting down the ballistic missiles Russia has increasingly fired at Ukrainian cities.

Zelenskyy said following a productive NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Ukraine will receive a package from the US and there were also some separate agreements, referring to securing the latest generation PAC-3 interceptors, short for Patriot Advanced Capability-3.

"We resolved this issue politically," he said of producing Patriot missiles for Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said "it's now very important Ukraine's technical teams, work to get licences very quickly and start production in Ukraine as soon as possible."

Zelenskyy has long pleaded for faster supplies of interceptors capable of bringing down Russian ballistic missiles, a need accentuated by recent large scale strikes.

An analyst said manufacturing Patriot interceptor missiles in Ukraine would strengthen the country's air defenses in the long term.

However, he said it is unlikely to give Ukraine an immediate upper hand over Russia on the battlefield.

THOMAS WITHINGTON, Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute: "I think, conservatively, it's very, very difficult to give an exact number on how long it may take to go from the current situation to one where patriots are being used in volume in Ukraine, home-built against Russian air defense threats. I would think you're talking at least 18 months, probably longer. This is not going to be a fix for the weapons. Let's say this is not going to be a fix for the air defense threats Ukraine is going to face tomorrow. What it is going do is illustrate to Russia that Ukraine is preparing herself for a prolonged air war and is prepared to defend herself during a prolonged air war. So that's an important political signal."