Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has personally blamed US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth for the fact that already-paid-for interceptor missiles are not reaching Ukraine. At a virtual meeting with US senators from both parties, Zelensky said the missiles had been “already paid for” by the European side under the Purl programme, but Hegseth’s signature for the delivery was still outstanding. This was reported by Der Spiegel and Die Welt on Monday, 19 October; Die Welt published the allegations on Tuesday, 20 October.
Through the Purl mechanism, Nato states and their allies can buy weapons packages for Ukraine in the US. According to Zelensky, European states that are prepared to hand over Patriot interceptor missiles from their own stocks are also waiting for approval from Washington. “The missiles are ready for use. They could already be in Ukraine. (…) But unfortunately the approval has still not been granted,” Zelensky said, according to the Ukrainian presidential office. “All this suggests that a political decision has been made to slow down support for us.”
According to Der Spiegel, the Washington Post supports this account: Hegseth did not formally reject a delivery, but also did not grant final approval. According to information from the US newspaper, on which merkur.de also relies, the stop also affects deliveries from other partners that depend on approval from Washington. A Ukrainian official told the Washington Post last week that only “a few” interceptor missiles remained in Ukrainian stocks.
Trump: “Time for someone else to negotiate”
US President Donald Trump did not reject the allegations, but sharply attacked Zelensky in turn. “We have given Ukraine a lot – they have given us nothing. Don’t forget that,” he said on Monday in Washington. In front of reporters at the White House, he said according to merkur.de: “Zelensky isn’t exactly helping much. I think he doesn’t want to end it.” And further: “I think it’s time for someone else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine.”
On Sunday, Zelensky had spoken with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about the delivery of Patriot air-defence systems. According to insiders, Kushner and Witkoff are to travel to Norway this week for a new round of negotiations on ending the war; according to Die Welt, Zelensky is also expected. Trump had most recently accused the Ukrainian head of state of fundamentally refusing peace talks with Russia.
No advance warning of ballistic missiles
The dispute comes at a stage when Ukraine can barely maintain its air defence. In the night to Monday, 19 October, according to Zelensky, several Russian ballistic missiles struck Kyiv and the surrounding area and cut off power to more than half a million households. According to him, Russia fired 16 ballistic missiles at Ukraine – once again there had been no advance warning from partners. On Telegram, Zelensky wrote: “It is important to call things by their name. An aggressor must also be called that. When missile deliveries for Ukrainian defence are blocked while sanctions against Russia are eased, then that is unfortunately a denial of reality by our partners.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected allegations that Washington had suspended the sharing of intelligence; according to the New York Times, which Der Spiegel quotes, he spoke of a software problem. Zelensky had previously complained that the Ukrainian army had had no access to US intelligence for “three days” during Russian attacks with ballistic missiles.
In addition, Zelensky complained on Monday that the Starlink satellite communications service, which is important for the army, was working at several front sections only at reduced speed. Ukraine had accused the US last week of deliberately lowering the speed after Trump had shown himself annoyed by Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries. The US government denied that the president had ordered the throttling; according to Der Spiegel, Musk stated that all limits were decided by the US military and ultimately by the president.
Critics have long accused Trump of a Russia-friendly course. On Friday, 16 October, he suspended already-decided sanctions against Russia shortly before they were due to take effect – a week after he concluded a controversial agreement with the Kremlin on the delivery of Russian diesel and a good two weeks before the congressional elections on 3 November. In Ukraine, concern is growing that the US could throttle support on the battlefield in order to force concessions.
Editorial assessment: Whether Hegseth will grant approval in the coming days is open. The Norwegian round of talks is likely to become a litmus test of whether Washington is using negotiations over arms deliveries as leverage.
Earlier coverage: Paid-for Patriot missiles: why is the US stalling?
