Italy plans to provide Ukraine with SAMP/T air defence aid package, media report

The Italian government plans to approve a ninth package of military aid for Ukraine before the G7 Summit on 13 June, including an SAMP/T air defence system.

Source: European Pravda, citing Italian newspaper La Repubblica

Details: The Italian government led by Giorgia Meloni has decided to approve the ninth inter-ministerial decree on military assistance to Ukraine, which will include an SAMP/T air defence system.

Italy has five such systems, and Rome intends to provide Ukraine with one it had loaned to Slovakia. Some of these systems will also protect the venue of the G7 summit.

The new aid package will also include artillery. According to La Repubblica’s sources, Matteo Salvini's Lega political party is opposed to the package, but it is expected to garner enough votes for support in parliament.

In early March, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that Italy would be withdrawing the SAMP/T air defence system from Slovakia. He said that his country's strategic facilities, including nuclear power plants, would remain vulnerable without protection. He added that the previous government had "gifted" Ukraine with an operational Russian S-300 air defence system.

The Italian SAMP/T air defence system replaced a US-made Patriot system in Slovakia last year. Slovakia provided Ukraine with an S-300 after Russia's large-scale invasion in 2022.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba previously stated that Ukraine had identified 100 air defence systems in allied countries and requested at least seven of them to be provided for the protection of Ukrainian cities.

So far, only Germany has announced the urgent transfer of one of its Patriot systems.

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