Published On 19/11/2025
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Last update: 06:09 (Mecca time)
On Tuesday, the United States agreed to sell weapons worth $105 million to Kiev to modernize Patriot missile systems, while Russia continued to bomb its neighbor, wounding dozens in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine.
The US State Department said it informed Congress of the deal for spare parts, training, and modernization of the Patriot missiles that Ukraine relies on to shoot down Russian missiles.
The American Patriot system is a long-range air defense missile system developed by Raytheon for the US Army since the 1960s, and began its official service in 1985.
The Patriot system has spread to more than 18 countries, and has been used in major conflicts, most notably the Second Gulf War and the Russian-Ukrainian war.
The deal includes upgrading the M901 missile launchers to M903 launchers that can fire a larger number of missiles simultaneously.
A statement issued by the US State Department said that “the proposed deal would improve Ukraine’s ability to confront current and future threats.”
Ukraine will pay the costs of modernizing the Patriot missile systems, as US President Donald Trump criticized his country’s military aid to Ukraine, which has amounted to about $67 billion since Russia’s attack on it in February 2022.
Despite Trump’s repeated calls to end the war, Russia has refused a ceasefire and continues its attacks on Ukraine.
Russian attack
In conjunction with the American announcement of updating Kiev’s Patriot systems, Russia continued to launch attacks on Ukraine, and an attack with Russian drones resulted in the injury of at least 32 people in the city of Kharkiv, according to what the governor of the region of the same name in eastern Ukraine announced early on Wednesday morning, after it was targeted for the third night in a row.
During the previous two nights, Russian missile attacks killed at least 4 people in the area, including a 17-year-old girl.
The region’s governor, Oleg Sinigubov, reported on Telegram that there had been a “massive attack on Kharkiv” carried out by at least “11 enemy marches, during which a 9-storey building was hit and then set on fire.”
“The number of infected people in Kharkiv has so far reached 32,” he wrote early Wednesday morning.
As winter approaches, Moscow has escalated its strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. For its part, Kiev regularly targets warehouses, oil refineries and other energy facilities in Russia.
On the front, the Russian army continues its advance, especially in the Kharkiv region, where it announced control of the village of Dvorychansky on Monday.