Ukrainian Defense Minister Yevhen Khmara held a telephone conversation with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to discuss preparations for the upcoming Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in the “Ramstein” format, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry announced on Saturday evening, Sept. 5.
During the call, Khmara and Rutte reviewed Ukraine’s priority battlefield needs, focusing primarily on securing additional air defense systems and expanding financial contributions for the Defense Forces.
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Khmara characterized partner support across these two domains as Ukraine’s primary objective ahead of the multilateral summit scheduled for the coming days.
Khmara emphasized the necessity of consolidated allied assistance in strengthening air defenses, stating that Kyiv is counting on continued partner unity and swift decision-making.
He highlighted the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) program, which facilitates the targeted procurement and delivery of critical armaments to Ukrainian forces.
The discussions with NATO leadership follow a separate phone call between Khmara and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on Friday, in which both officials coordinated preparations for next week’s Ramstein gathering.
The previous Contact Group meeting occurred on June 18 at NATO headquarters in Brussels, co-chaired by the UK and Germany.
Urgent Patriot missile requests
The consultations ahead of the Ramstein summit follow a request by Kyiv urging the European Commission to allocate several billion euros from the EU’s €90 billion ($105 billion) support loan to purchase PAC-3 Patriot interceptor missiles.
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced Ukraine’s request on Sept. 2 in Brussels prior to a meeting with Rutte, confirming that member states are actively reviewing the proposal.
The requested funds are intended to finance high-end air defense capabilities, particularly PAC-3 missiles, which serve as Ukraine’s primary countermeasure against Russian ballistic missile strikes.
The EU’s €90 billion Ukraine Support Loan has already disbursed €8.5 billion (roughly $9.9 billion) since June to finance drone and missile manufacturing, alongside procurement plans for European-built fighter jets.
Concurrently, the EU and Ukraine are advancing the “Freyja” project, an initiative aimed at jointly developing a European anti-ballistic missile defense system.
Kyiv’s air defense push follows Khmara’s address to EU defense ministers on Sept. 1, where he outlined pressing operational gaps. In response, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas acknowledged that interceptors are in short supply, urging member states to review existing stockpiles and consider transferring or selling Patriot missiles approaching the end of their operational service lives.