US finalizing plans to send Patriot missile systems to Ukraine: Report
The United States is reportedly finalizing plans to send Patriot missile systems to Ukraine, going against a warning by Russia against deployment of the weapons to the ex-Soviet republic, where Moscow is waging a war.
Reuters news agency carried the report on Tuesday, citing three US officials.
Two of the officials said the decision to send the missile systems could be announced "as early as Thursday," noting that the announcement was awaiting the approval of Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and President Joe Biden.
Earlier in December, Politico cited the giant US weapons manufacturer Raytheon that produces the Patriot systems, as saying that Washington looked to shift its missile systems from the Middle East to Ukraine.
A typical Patriot battery includes a radar set that detects and tracks targets, computers, power generating equipment, an engagement control station and up to eight launchers, each holding four ready to fire missiles.
Once the plans are finalized, the Patriots are expected to ship quickly in the coming days and Ukrainians will be trained to use them at a US Army base in Grafenwoehr, Germany, officials said.
Previously, the US has sent Patriot batteries to NATO allies like Poland as a way to “bolster their defenses.”
Russia's war on Ukraine started in late February with Moscow saying that it was aimed at defending the pro-Russian population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk against persecution by Kiev.
Ever since the beginning of the war, Ukraine's Western allies, led by the US, have been pumping up advanced weapons to Ukraine and slapping Russia with a slew of sanctions, steps Moscow says will only prolong the conflict.
Last month, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned the US-led military alliance of NATO against providing Ukraine with the Patriot batteries, describing the alliance as a "criminal entity" for its delivering arms to, what he called "extremist regimes". It is likely Moscow will view the missile support as an escalation.
"If...NATO were to supply the Ukrainian fanatics with Patriot systems along with NATO personnel, they would immediately become a legitimate target of our armed forces," Medvedev said.
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