Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky plans to ask for additional military support for his country's defensive campaign against Russia at an emergency meeting with defence ministers from NATO countries on Friday.
The meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, organized via videoconference, is expected to focus in particular on the question of whether allies can supply Ukraine with additional air-defence systems in the short term.
According to Zelensky, the Ukrainian armed forces also need additional weapons, artillery shells, vehicles and drones.
Ukraine is currently concerned with whether it can hold the front line and protect the existing energy infrastructure, Zelenksy has said. Russia has increased the military pressure on Ukraine in recent weeks and destroyed almost all of its thermal power plants with airstrikes.
According to information provided by Zelensky at the beginning of April, 25 Patriot air-defence missile systems, each with six to eight launchers or comparable equipment, would be needed to fully protect Ukrainian airspace. Alternatives include systems such as the Iris-T, SAMP/T and NASAMS.
The German government had already announced at the weekend that it would supply Ukraine with another Patriot system. Commitments are now also expected from other countries, such as Spain.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently said that in the current situation, he believes it is more important to help Ukraine than to fulfil alliance targets for the provision of weapons and ammunition.