Tenth arms package to Ukraine on the way: shipment extended to 2025 and ammunition for Samp-T

Italy is ready to provide Kiev with a new arms package to confront Russia and extend the possibility of sending aid to Ukraine into 2025. Just a few days after the European Parliament called on EU countries to provide modern air defence systems and long-range missiles to counter Moscow's aggression, the Meloni government is making its move: a tenth aid decree and a measure that will still guarantee military supplies for next year - with the obligatory passage through the House and Senate behind it -. The government is aiming to give the go-ahead by Christmas, but the timetable could slip to January, before Donald Trump takes office in the White House, who has a different line on support for Ukraine than his predecessor, who is less inclined to supply new weapons to Kiev.

The draft is ready. And the list of weapons, as in the previous measures, is secreted, but the hypotheses circulating concern new ammunition for the Samp T anti-aircraft defence systems, the last of which - just returned from Kuwait - had been supplied thanks to the ninth package last July (it was the second of its kind after the one carried out at the beginning of the war together with France), with the battery arriving at the end of September in the hands of Zelensky's troops. It cannot now be ruled out that Italy may soon supply the Aster missiles, which have a range of 120 kilometres, or other types of ammunition to continue the use of the defence shield. The location of the two anti-aircraft defence systems and whether - based on their position - they will have the capability to strike Russian territory also remains a secret. Although, according to reports from Moscow, the first anti-aircraft system supplied in cooperation with France was at least partly damaged by Russian soldiers.

Last April, Italy had also already supplied Kiev with Storm Shadow/Scalp cruise missiles that can strike at a distance of 500 kilometres, potentially also targets in Russia then. But according to the caveat, as the Italian ministers have repeatedly emphasised, the weapons supplied cannot be used on Russian soil.

In the meantime, Italy is continuing its efforts to modernise its national air and missile defence capability on the Samp T programme - the result of a cooperation between Italy, France and the UK - which will soon see the entry into service of the new generation and the acquisition of a further battery for the Italian Army, as well as the provision of logistic support for the systems in inventory of the Italian Army and Navy. The first to call for an increase in production is Defence Minister Guido Crosetto himself, who advocates doubling the production line.