KYIV, Jan 28 - About 90 Patriot missiles from Israel are being sent to Ukraine in a transfer facilitated by the United States, according to a US defense official, CNN reported.

The missiles had been in storage in Israel, which operated Patriot air defense systems for more than 30 years before retiring them in April. Discussions about transferring the missiles from Israel to Ukraine have been ongoing since last summer, when Biden administration officials were hopeful the effort might allow the unused missiles to be sent to Kyiv to aid in its war with Russia.

Ukraine was desperate for more Patriot missiles as Russia launched barrages of missiles and drones, repeatedly overwhelming the country’s air defense systems.

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But Israeli assistance to Ukraine has been very limited, and Israel’s leaders have been careful not to overly criticize Russia. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tried to walk a fine line with Russian President Vladimir Putin, making it difficult to finalize the transfer of missiles.

The Israeli Patriot missiles were first handed over to the United States before being shipped to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the pace of Russian advances in Ukraine has fallen to a six-month low, dropping to levels not seen since before Kyiv's incursion into Russia's Kursk region according to a post by news outlet Agentstvo on Telegram, Newsweek reported.

The slowing pace of advance suggests that Moscow may be finding it difficult to continue to sustain the war in Ukraine because of manpower and equipment shortages, as well as increasing economic problems. Sanctions imposed by Western powers targeting Russia's energy sector may be cutting off funding for the war and therefore affecting Russian forces in Ukraine.

Russian territorial gains slowed in December and January, even with the help of North Korean soldiers deployed to Kursk, according to Agentstvo. The outlet's analysis is based on data from the Ukrainian OSINT project DeepState.

Since July 2024, Russia has advanced a total of 2,823.3 square kilometers (1,090 square miles), with most success in November, at 792.2 square kilometers.

In January, Russian troops in Kursk showed the slowest rate of advance since August, as Moscow managed to fully regain control of just 33.3 square kilometers (12.9 miles) of the region, compared to its previous rate of 90 to 216 square kilometers per month for the preceding four months.

Military analyst Yan Matveyev said that the Russian army is in a phase of heavy fighting in several directions at once and the pace of its offensive varies from one to two kilometers per week. (cnn-nw)