The United States of America is finalizing plans to send Patriot missiles to Ukraine. Shipping will be announced at the end of the week.
The news is reported by several international media, such as Reuters and CNN. Both outlets cite three US officials.
According to CNN, the Pentagon plan still needs the approval of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and then the signature of US President Joe Biden. In Reuters, two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity say the announcement could be made as early as Thursday.
Ukraine has been asking the United States to provide the advanced long-range air defense system. Patriot missiles are highly efficient at intercepting cruise and ballistic missiles. Officials heard by CNN believe that this system will protect NATO airspace in Eastern Europe.
For Reuters, Alexander Vindman, a retired army lieutenant colonel who led Ukraine policy at the White House during the Trump administration, considers this deployment “very significant.”
“These missiles are going to be quite capable of dealing with a lot of different challenges that the Ukrainians have, especially if the Russians use short-range ballistic missiles” from Iran.
Once the plans are finalized and approved, the missiles will be shipped quickly to Europe. Ukrainian forces will be trained by the US military to operate the system at the Grafenwoehr military base in Germany.
Threats from Russia
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had warned NATO not to provide Patriot missiles to Ukraine as he would see it as an escalation of the conflict.
For its part, the Pentagon believes that the recent Russian missile attacks against Ukraine are aimed at reducing air defenses and thus dominating the airspace.
For that reason, several NATO countries have been supplying Ukraine with new air defense systems.
Source: TSF
