The Ukrainian military has received the first American Patriot air defense systems, which are supposed to help Kiev protect its skies against Russian missile salvoes, Defense Minister Oleksiï Reznikov announced on Wednesday.
In another message, Oleksii Reznikov sent a message of thanks to France for the AMX-10RCs that have also just arrived in Ukraine. They were nicknamed the “rolling snipers” by Ukrainian porpoises.
The Patriots are part of the new defense aid announced by Washington last December. According to the Pentagon, Patriot batteries are capable of shooting down cruise missiles, short-range ballistic missiles, and also aircraft much more effectively than systems currently available to the Ukrainian military.
drone attack
It took three months to train the Ukrainian operators and maintenance teams. These trainings took place in Germany so that the Americans would not be officially considered co-belligerent by Moscow.
The dispatch of the Pariots had created a controversy in the United States in military and political circles. George Beebe, a former US foreign intelligence adviser and now a consultant to the Quincy Institute, doubts the Patriots’ effectiveness in this specific case. According to this expert, it is a “very expensive and ineffective” way to defend against drone attacks. This controversy did not last long.
Source: BFM TV
