British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace predicted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will last beyond 2023, so he invited the international community to “be realistic”.
In an interview with the newspaper The New York TimesWallace said there is a good chance that hostilities “will continue until 2024” and expressed confidence that Ukrainian forces will “soon launch a counter-offensive”.
“I am optimistic that Ukraine will continue to move in this direction this year or next,” he added.
However, he also warned that nations that support Ukraine “must be realistic and understand that Russia is not going to collapse just like that.”
Sources close to US intelligence suggest that Kiev and its allies are actively preparing a counterattack against Russian forces and say such an operation could begin as early as April 30.
Kiev received US Patriot air defense systems
The Ukrainian army received the first US Patriot anti-aircraft systems intended to help protect Kiev’s skies from Russian missiles, meanwhile, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov announced.
“Today our beautiful Ukrainian sky is safer thanks to the Patriot defense systems that have arrived in Ukraine”, said the minister in a message on Twitter.
“Patriots” for patriots
Do you know how to visualize a dream? We must tell the world about it and give it life! This is exactly what happened to the Patriots, even before the full-scale war, even before my appointment to the most important position of my life at the most… pic.twitter.com/m6H63erV6Z
– Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) April 19, 2023
The minister thanks the United States, Germany and the Netherlands for being countries that kept their promises.
“They kept their word,” Reznikov wrote, without giving details so far about the number, origin or concrete details of the systems shipped.
Patriot (Phased Array Tracking Radar for Intercept on Targe) systems are manufactured in the United States by Raytheon Technologies and were used initially during the first Gulf War (1991) and later in the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
It is a surface-to-air missile system with a range of 150 kilometers used by the United States and several countries that are part of the Atlantic Alliance.
The request to send Patriot to Ukraine was voiced by the head of state of Ukraine during his visit to the United States.
Source: DN
