Greece rejected pressure from European allies to help Ukraine expand its air defense, arguing that Athens needed the systems for itself.
Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky has called for an additional seven Patriots or similar defensive batteries to be deployed to protect his cities and power plants from Russian attacks.
However, Greece has said it cannot do without any of its Patriot or S-300 systems.
Spain will reportedly deliver some Patriot missiles, but not a complete system.
In response to attacks on vulnerable cities such as Chernihiv and energy facilities in Kharkiv and near Kiev, Spain and Greece are coming under pressure to help Ukraine from both NATO and European Union allies.
Ukraine has only a handful of Patriots, which complement other Western missile defense systems and existing stocks of Soviet-era surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) such as the S-300.
Patriots are the most powerful and expensive air defense systems Ukraine has. Germany has already promised an additional Patriot system – and its defense and foreign ministers appealed to their counterparts earlier this month to respond urgently.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the allies had not provided Ukraine with the support they had promised. And EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell said this week: “The patriots are in the capitals. And it’s up to them to make the decisions.”
Greece in particular has stocks of Patriots and S-300s. However, Prime Minister Kyrios Mitsotakis has ruled out a handover to Kiev. “We were asked and explained why we cannot do this,” he told Skai TV.
He explained that his country’s air defenses are “critical systems for the protection of Greek airspace and will not be handed over to Ukraine.”
Athens has supplied Kiev with weapons and ammunition, but fears it will lose its deterrence capacity due to possible conflict with neighbor Turkey, although relations are currently relatively stable.
The Spanish military has three Patriot batteries but argues that it needs all of them and can only provide a “very limited number” of Patriot missiles because its reserve is relatively small, sources told El País newspaper.
Each Patriot battery costs around $1 billion (£800 million) and each missile costs almost $4 million.
The ongoing dilemma for Ukraine’s military commanders is where to place the missile systems: near the country’s vulnerable cities or near the front line, where Russia’s advances are most intense.
Russia’s recent successes have been marked by increased use of air power. Su-34 fighter-bombers have dropped precision-guided munitions on Ukrainian forces.
We don’t know where Ukraine is placing its SAM systems, but containing this growing Russian air threat could mean focusing missile defense on the Eastern Front.
This risks losing some level of missile defense for key cities and key infrastructure areas – areas regularly targeted by Russian cruise missiles and attack drones.
For this reason, Ukraine advocates for stronger missile defenses to close the gaps in vulnerable areas.
Ukraine also had to withdraw U.S. M1 Abrams main battle tanks from the front, according to an Associated Press report.
The tanks were originally provided to help Ukrainian forces with battlefield operations, but Russia’s increasing use of drones has made it more difficult to protect the tanks and five have been lost, AP reported.