Germany's Defence Minister Boris Pistorius on Thursday said his country cannot provide Ukraine with any more Patriot air defence systems than the three it is supplying already.
"There is no space for providing even more than those three systems," Pistorius told reporters in Brussels ahead of a meeting of NATO defence ministers. He said the three systems make up a quarter of Germany's stock. "Now, it's on other partners to provide systems," Pistorius said.
Pistorius and his NATO counterparts are meeting on Thursday and Friday to discuss support for Ukraine in the war against Russia, including air defence. Also high on the agenda are a NATO-coordinated training and support mission for Ukraine, as well as long-term financial commitments.
In a press conference ahead of the meeting, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged allies to "approve a plan for NATO to lead the coordination of security assistance and training to Ukraine."
The project is a major part of a defence package for Ukraine that the 32-member alliance wants to approve at a NATO leaders' summit in Washington in July.
The aim is to transfer responsibility for coordinating military aid for Ukraine from an informal, United States-led arrangement called the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) to the formal structures of NATO.
NATO ministers are meeting as the UDCG first on Thursday, and as NATO proper in the NATO-Ukraine Council later in the day and on Friday.
There are also talks ongoing between allies to seal a commitment to long-term financial support for Ukraine. Stoltenberg said in Prague last month that allies should commit to maintaining their current level of support, which he puts at €40 billion ($43 billion) per year.
Arriving at NATO headquarters on Thursday, Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair announced that his country will supply Ukraine with rockets, small arms ammunition and remote-controlled weapon mounts for vehicles - though it has no Patriots to give, he said.
"Canada will provide Ukraine with 2,300 Canadian Rocket Vehicle 7s or CRV rocket motors," Blair said. He added, "Canada will send an additional number of rounds of small arms ammunition, as well as 29 Nanuk remote systems," which are remote-controlled weapon mounts for military vehicles.
He added, "this week, Canada is beginning the shipments of a new fleet of 50 armoured vehicles to Ukraine. The first four vehicles are departing Canada this week, and they will be delivered to the Ukrainian armed forces in the coming weeks."
