Romania will consider sending one of its Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine. This was stated by President Klaus Iohannis after a meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington, Bloomberg reports. 

Iohannis emphasized that the possible decision should not jeopardize the security of his country. Bloomberg notes that Romania has the largest border with Ukraine among the European Union member states.

“President Biden raised the topic of Patriot, and I told him I was open to discussing it. We will need to discuss it domestically to see if we can offer one system and, of course, what we can get in return, because it is unacceptable that Romania remains without air defense,” Iohannis said.

According to Bloomberg, Romania has a total of four Patriot batteries, with three of them still in the process of deployment. According to Iohannis, Ukraine may be provided with a battery that is “almost ready to work.”

The agency notes that in 2017, Romania signed a $4 billion Patriot purchase agreement. This is the largest contract to date for the purchase of these systems among NATO and EU countries, with the first batch delivered in 2020.