A military expert claims that the Pentagon is taken aback by Ukraine’s use of American-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems in their conflict with Russia.
In an interview with Radio NV in Ukraine, Ivan Kirichevskiy, a specialist at the military media and consultancy firm Defense Express, commented on Kyiv’s deployment of the cutting-edge missile system. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky requested the critical defensive system for months before it was delivered.
A report explains that the Patriot missile systems, designed to intercept cruise missiles, shorter-range ballistic missiles, and airplanes, were sent to Ukraine from the United States last October. Zelensky said they would be useful in deterring Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power plants and civilian neighborhoods. Patriot systems have also been promised to Ukraine by Germany and the Netherlands.
Ukraine has deployed two of the devices to defend against aerial attacks.
Washington, DC, has supplied Kyiv with various surface-to-air missiles since the conflict started, but the ground-based defense system is the most sophisticated of the pack. The Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance claims it has a range of over 60 miles and can track and engage cruise missiles, short-range or strategic ballistic missiles, and drones.
In December, Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, declared that Russia would punish any and all Western countries who sold arms to Ukraine.
U.S. authorities have reported that a Patriot anti-aircraft missile system suffered “minor” damage in a missile assault on May 16 near Kyiv.
A new report claims that Russia conducted a pre-dawn air strike on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, killing one and leaving Kyiv’s citizens running for safety from a continuous barrage of daytime and nocturnal bombardments.
In what seems to be Russia’s third strike on the city in less than 24 hours, air defense troops in Kyiv’s airspace destroyed 20 Shahed incendiary drones, according to preliminary data from the Kyiv Military Administration. The air force subsequently reported that 29 of the 31 drones shot down were launched into the Kyiv region.
