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NATO top commander: Working very closely with Berlin on

Patriot

transfer

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Says guidance is to move 'as quickly as possible'

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Meeting of Patriot-owning nations expected on Wednesday

(Adds more quotes, details and background)

By Sabine Siebold

WIESBADEN, Germany, July 17 (Reuters) - Preparations are

underway to quickly transfer additional Patriot air defence

systems to Ukraine, NATO's top military commander Alexus

Grynkewich said on Thursday, as the country suffers some of the

heaviest Russian attacks of the war so far.

"We are working very closely with the Germans on the Patriot

transfer", he told a conference in the German city of Wiesbaden.

"The guidance that I have been given has been to move out as

quickly as possible."

U.S. President Donald Trump this week announced a toughened

stance against Russia for its more than three-year war in

Ukraine and promised new missiles and other weaponry for Kyiv.

He said on Tuesday that some Patriot missiles, coming from

Germany, were already on their way to Ukraine.

A meeting of Patriot-owning nations and Ukraine donors,

aimed at finding additional Patriot air defence batteries for

Kyiv and chaired by Grynkewich, could take place on Wednesday

next week, a source close to the talks told Reuters.

The expert level meeting is expected to be held at NATO's

military headquarters SHAPE near the Belgian town of Mons,

according to the source.

Grynkewich said there was also an issue of sequence with

regard to deliveries to Ukraine.

"Secretary (of State Marco) Rubio just talked about

capabilities that are in Europe (which) can be moved more

quickly than something coming off the production line",

Grynkewich noted.

"But the production line can then be used to backfill the

capabilities that others donate."

He said he had no sense of what number of Patriot systems

might be freed up for delivery to Kyiv. "There will be a lot

more to follow, we're going to move as quickly as we can on

this," he said.

After a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth

in Washington on Monday, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius

said a decision on supplying two U.S.-made Patriot systems to

Kyiv could be reached within days or weeks.

Germany has already donated three of its own Patriot units

to Kyiv.

Ukraine treasures the Patriot system, built by U.S. defence

company Raytheon, as its most valuable means to

intercept ballistic and hypersonic missiles fired by Russia.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Editing by Bart Meijer and Ros

Russell)