Ukraine and Nine European Nations Launch a Coalition to Build a Missile Shield for Europe

Ukraine and nine European nations announced on Monday that they are forming a coalition to build a shared ballistic-missile defense for the continent, an effort born from Kyiv's grinding experience of intercepting Russian missiles and drones night after night.

The ten founding members — Ukraine, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom — unveiled the pact at talks in Paris. "Our goal is to build a shared ballistic missile defense capability for Europe," the group said in a joint statement, adding that they "recognize Ukraine's unique experience, gained through its defense against the war of aggression waged by Russia."

The announcement came alongside a broader gathering of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, which drew more than 30 countries and roughly 25 heads of state and government. Officials emphasized that ballistic missiles pose a far tougher challenge than the cruise missiles and drones Ukraine has learned to shoot down, because they arc high into the atmosphere and plunge toward their targets at extreme speed, leaving defenders only seconds to react.

Central to the plan is a bet that Ukraine, which has spent years under bombardment, can help design and eventually help produce the interceptors and radars Europe would need. President Trump's pledge to grant Ukraine a license to manufacture American-designed Patriot air-defense systems could mark a significant breakthrough for Kyiv, though experts and Ukrainian officials cautioned that turning the idea into a working production line would likely take years.

Moscow reacted with scorn and menace. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that "wherever they attempt to strike Russian territory, we will respond in kind, but our strikes will be several times more powerful." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the effort as "a coalition of warmongers," driven, he said, by "the profound delusion that it's possible to inflict a strategic defeat on our country."

For European leaders, the coalition is as much about the future as the present war. With Washington's long-term commitment to the continent's defense increasingly uncertain, capitals from London to Warsaw have been racing to shore up their own capabilities. A homegrown missile shield, built with Ukraine's hard-won knowledge, would mark a major step toward a Europe better able to defend itself — even as officials conceded that the hardest engineering and political work still lies ahead. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who attended the Paris talks, has pressed allies for months to help shield Ukrainian cities from the near-nightly Russian missile and drone barrages that have killed civilians and battered the power grid.