WASHINGTON Jan 18 Delivering a Patriot air defense system will not be the answer for all the needs of Ukraine in this area, recognized the coordinator of strategic communications of the White House National Security Council, John Kirby.
«Ideally, to cover the territory with only Patriot systems, you need several batteries located near critical objects … We think about this when we talk about air defense, which is provided only by Patriot systems. But as I said, in Ukraine we do not focusing on specific systems,» Kirby told reporters.
He noted that the Patriot battery «by itself will not be the answer to all the needs of Ukraine in air defense.»
It won't be implemented quickly, Kirby said, as the Ukrainian military has just started learning how to use the system.
Earlier, the Pentagon reported that the Ukrainian military would master the Patriot at a base in Oklahoma. The Americans expect to prepare the Ukrainian military for the use and maintenance of Patriot systems in a few months, the first battery of which was included in the latest aid package to Kyiv.
Earlier, Russia sent a note to NATO countries because of arms supplies to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation stated that the NATO countries are «playing with fire» by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that pumping Ukraine with weapons from the West does not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative effect. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier that the United States and NATO are directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, «including not only the supply of weapons, but also the training of personnel» in the UK, Germany, Italy and other countries.