Posted on 03/27/2024 5:52:44 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Ukraine has doubled down on demands for U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, pressing for vital, sophisticated assets to shield its cities at a moment of deepening concern over the future of military aid destined for Ukraine.
"Give us the damn Patriots," Kyiv's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, told Politico in an interview published on Monday.
Ukraine is thought to have a handful of Patriot batteries, considered the gold-standard of air defenses. The exact number and locations are not known, but Ukraine is believed to have batteries stationed around major cities, like Kyiv, as well as close to the front lines.
According to Ukraine's military, Kyiv has used its Patriots to take out a slew of Russian aircraft, and the systems were credited with intercepting a number of Russia's supposedly unstoppable Kinzhal missiles, which the Kremlin has describes as hypersonic weapons.
The Raytheon-designed Patriot is a surface-to-air system designed to shoot down ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as aircraft and drones, from long distances. It is considered one of the U.S. military's most advanced air defense systems and Patriots are also stationed on NATO's eastern flank, close to the conflict in Ukraine.
The Kremlin claimed last week that it had destroyed five Patriot launchers since the start of 2024. Each Patriot battery has several launchers that contain and fire missiles. Reports had suggested earlier in March that a Russian missile strike took out two Patriot launchers traveling with a Ukrainian convoy.
Ukraine has been unwavering in its calls for more air defense systems to fend off frequent, hammering Russian missile strikes. In the early hours of Friday, Russia launched 151 strikes—using ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as strike drones— across Ukraine, according to Kyiv's air force.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Rude, demanding little jackwads, aren’t they?
“”Give us the damn Patriots,” Kyiv’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba,..”
Nazis sure are demanding....
Ukraine’s “Greatest Generation”.
...as yet unrecognized as such...
I’m not a fan of providing countries subject to security gaps with high tech. Always seems to fall into the wrong hands and winds up killing American soldiers.
Hey, Ukraine - Molon labe...
Kick these losers to the curb. “Give us...” These corrupt losers need to be cut off.
Putin wants all the places that were in the USSR to be part of Russia.
He accuses Ukraine of being run by Nazis and Satanists who were making biological and nuclear weapons.
His most senior cleric actually said Ukraine was invaded to prevent gay parades in Orthodox Christian cities.
You think these loons are people you can negotiate with?
As for the reliability of a signed "peace deal" with Putin; Russia signed the Minsk Agreements and the Budapest Memorandum and subsequently wiped its ass with them.
"Give us the tools and we will finish the job." Who said that?
Most of it is not current taxpayers' money, it is mostly money already spent on the USA's defense budget going back 20 years (for weapons and ammunition), just 3-5% of one year's budget. So that money would never reach US taxpayers even if it was not given to the Ukraine.
Apart from that, they don't even give them much actual cash, when they say $40 billion to Ukraine, what they mean is the original value of hardware, shells, missiles, bullets etc, very little of it is cash and that's mostly for humanitarian aid.
The missiles and shells sent to the Ukraine are typically approaching their "use by" dates too, so if not used up in US troop training exercises they would cost the US money to decommission.
Any money required for new ammunition manufacturing is actually being spent in the USA. It is all bought from American companies, so it is in effect stimulating the US economy in order to help Ukraine:
https://www.gmfus.org/news/us-military-support-ukraine-helping-put-american-industry-back-track
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