Air defense, drones, shells: Ukraine's Shmyhal details key ally pledges at Ramstein meeting

The Defense Minister reported this on Telegram.

According to him, during the meeting, the Ukrainian team received an important signal: the free world is on the side of Ukraine and peace.

Shmyhal spoke about key decisions from partners: 

• The United States is initiating a new mechanism together with NATO that will allow European countries to purchase American weapons for Ukraine. European partners have already declared their readiness to join in the financing. They discussed a specific mechanism for the operation of this initiative. Germany is joining the initiative to transfer five Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine, which should arrive in Ukraine soon. 

• Germany is providing over 200,000 shells for Gepard systems and is also funding the purchase of Ukrainian long-range drones.

• Canada will continue its participation in financing the Ukrainian defense industry through the "Danish model" and is allocating 20 million Canadian dollars for the maintenance of Ukrainian tanks. 

• The Netherlands is providing 200 million euros for interceptor drones and 125 million euros for F-16 aircraft maintenance. 

• Norway has allocated a total of 1 billion euros in 2025 for drone procurement, of which 400 million is for procurement from the Ukrainian defense industry. 

• Sweden is preparing a new package with air defense systems, artillery, and equipment.

Earlier, Ukrinform reported that the first request to partners voiced by Shmyhal concerned the urgent purchase of American weapons for Ukraine.

"Air defense, especially Patriot and PAC-3 missiles along with ammunition, is extremely important for us," he said. "Russian terror continues, so we need to strengthen our air defense. I ask the U.S. to make this weapon available for purchase, and our European partners to provide all necessary funding for its acquisition."

In addition, Shmyhal mentioned the financial support needed by Ukraine.

"Ukraine needs 6 billion dollars to cover this year's deficit (for defense procurements, ed.). This will allow us to build more FPV drones to hold the front line, more interceptor drones to counter Shahed attacks, and additional long-range weapons to bring the war back to Russian territory," he said.

The third thing Shmyhal mentioned was preparation for 2026. He called on partners to allocate funds for Ukraine in their budget proposals for 2026 right now.

In addition, the newly appointed Defense Minister emphasized the need for Ukraine's active participation in European lending programs under SAFE (Security Action for Europe), noting that SAFE loans are a critically important source of funding for next year.

"I fully understand the level of responsibility that lies on the Defense Minister of a country at war. That is why I want to assure you, dear friends, that the transition period in the Ministry of Defense will be smooth. Operations will remain uninterrupted. Everything we have achieved together will remain a priority," added Shmyhal.

At the "Ramstein" on July 21, as reported by Radio Liberty, Germany and the United Kingdom are co-chairing. Kyiv is represented by Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal and Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov. On behalf of the U.S., U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker is participating in the meeting. As the publication writes, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, whose participation was announced earlier, is not present.

At the beginning of the 29th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) in the "Ramstein" format, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that the US and Germany have reached an agreement on providing Ukraine with five Patriot air defense systems, which should arrive on the battlefield as soon as possible.

In addition, it became known that the United Kingdom and Germany have launched a joint project that will enable the provision of 220,000 shells to Ukraine for the German Gepard anti-aircraft system. The two countries also declared their readiness to finance the supply of modern drones to the battlefield.

• The meetings in the "coalition of the willing" format on April 10 and the Ramstein format on April 11 in Brussels mark a transitional moment: without U.S. participation, Europe is independently seeking new ways to defend Ukraine.