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Italy may suspend further deliveries of Aster interceptor missiles to Ukraine because of concerns over limited stockpiles, according to ANSA, raising fresh questions about how long Europe can keep arming Kyiv without compromising its own security.
Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has stressed that Rome must retain enough missiles to protect its own national security, even as Ukraine depends on continued European military assistance to defend itself against Russia. Italy now faces the challenge of balancing support for Kyiv with its responsibility to maintain its own defence capabilities.
The warning comes as Italy's 13th military aid package for Ukraine — its first of 2026 — remains stalled. ANSA reported on Tuesday, November 10, that the classified decree authorising the package had still not been signed by Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, a required step before it can be published and the assistance dispatched. Crosetto was due to present the package to COPASIR, parliament's intelligence and security oversight committee, on the same day. ANSA reported that the availability of Aster missile stocks to send to Ukraine appears exhausted, even as components for the Franco-Italian SAMP/T battery may still be sent.
The package's contents remain classified, but ANSA reported that it could include generators and air-defence components, with Aster missiles for the Franco-Italian SAMP/T surface-to-air missile system among the possible additions. Reuters, citing people close to the matter, also reported that the package could include Aster interceptor missiles for the SAMP/T system, which Ukraine uses to defend Kyiv and other cities against Russian aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.
Ukraine's need for the interceptors is acute. La Repubblica reported that Ukraine's SAMP/T batteries have been short of Aster 30 missiles since the summer of 2025, when French and Italian stocks fell toward minimum levels, and that only Italy, together with France, can supply the missile. Crosetto has acknowledged difficulties finding equipment that meets Kyiv's changing needs, saying some requested supplies are no longer readily available. According to Adnkronos and ANSA, he said Ukraine's interception rate had dropped from about 90 percent to about 10 percent.
Politics inside Rome are also holding the package up. The League party, led by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, opposes further arms shipments and has called for a focus on diplomacy to end the war, while Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Crosetto support continued assistance. La Repubblica reported in late October that the package, already delayed from July to September and then past the League's party congress, was frozen as the government waited for the outcome of the United States midterm elections on November 3. Italy has not sent a new military aid package to Ukraine since December 2025.
Crosetto has continued to publicly champion support for Kyiv. "We will honour the commitments we have made to our European allies, to NATO and to Ukraine," he told the Senate, according to Reuters, as he finalised the new package. He has also told lawmakers he intends to seek an extension of the decree-based framework that authorises arms shipments to Ukraine, which expires on December 31, 2026, into 2027.
The reported package would be worth nearly 3 billion euros, according to La Repubblica, and would centre on air and missile defence, including four SAMP/T NG batteries, Aster 30 interceptors and seven long-range radars, financed through European Union loans. France and Italy also agreed in July to speed up deliveries of an agreed number of Aster 30 missiles by October 2026 and to authorise licensed production of the missiles in Ukraine.
For now, the 13th package awaits the final signature. Until the decree is published, no new deliveries under it can begin — and with Italy's own stocks under strain, the question of how many Aster missiles Rome can still spare remains open.