US President Joe Biden has announced that United States, Germany, Netherlands, Romania and Italy Ukraine will be provided with five air defense systems, including four Patriotin the coming months, making one of Kyiv’s main requests in recent months a reality.

“Today I announce a historic donation of air defense equipment for Ukraine. The United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Italy will provide Ukraine with five additional strategic air defense systems in the coming months,” Biden said. during an event in Washington to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Atlantic Alliance.

Specifically, the US, Germany and Romania have pledged to send additional Patriot batteries Ukraine, while the Netherlands and other partners will donate Patriot components to enable the operation of such an anti-aircraft battery and Italy will contribute a SAMP-T system, the countries later detailed in a joint statement.

A repeated request from Kyiv

Ukraine has repeatedly asked its partners to provide more air defense assistance as it faces Russian attacks on its infrastructure. On Monday alone, Russia attacked the main children’s hospital in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with missiles, killing at least 41 civilians in the deadliest wave of airstrikes in months.

Biden promised that Kyiv has the “full support”” of the alliance and accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of wanting “nothing less than the total subjugation of Ukraine.”Putin wants to destroy democracy in Ukrainewith the culture of Ukraine and to wipe Ukraine off the map, and we know that Putin will not stop in Ukraine. But make no mistake: Ukraine can and will stop Putin!” he cried.

Biden used his speech to reflect on NATO’s role in its 75th anniversary, saying the alliance is now at its best after the accession of Sweden and Finland and increased defense spending, with NATO estimating that 23 countries will exceed or meet the goal of spending 2% of their GDP on defense this year.

“Today, NATO is more powerful than ever before.“We are united in the strength of 32 nations,” said Biden, who read his remarks from a teleprompter and was interrupted several times by applause. Biden made the remarks during a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of NATO at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, a historically significant site where the North Atlantic Treaty, which established the alliance, was signed in 1949.

One of the highlights of the event was the family photo of the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenbergwith the heads of state and government of the Alliance. As they left the stage, interactions between the leaders could be observed, with, for example, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greeting each other with two European-style kisses.