South Front
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Ukraine has received American-made MIM-104 Patriot long-range air defense systems, Kiev’s defense minister announced on April 19.
“Do you know how to visualize a dream? We must tell about it to the world and give it life!” Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defense minister, wrote in a tweet Wednesday morning. “Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure because Patriot air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine.”
One Patriot system was donated to Ukraine by the United States, while another was jointly gifted by Germany and the Netherlands.
The systems supplied to Kiev are said to be a mix of PAC-3 hit-to-kill active missiles to intercept ballistic missiles, with a range of 30-60 kilometers only, and PAC-2 blast fragmentation warhead semi-active missiles to counter aircraft threats with a range of up to 160 kilometers.
Ukrainian troops have been training on the Patriot in recent months in what U.S. military officials called an “absolutely a quick study.” Training began at Fort Sill in Oklahoma last January and ended in March. Troops also completed training in Europe alongside the Dutch and German militaries.
The decision to arm Ukraine with the advanced air defense system is meant to boost Kiev’s air defenses, which lost much of its Soviet era equipment after the beginning of the Russian special military operation and are said to be nearing complete depletion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has already vowed to “knock down” Patriot systems once delivered to Ukraine. The Russian military possesses the capabilities needed to locate and destroy the systems. However, it is still unclear when or how this will happen.
