The US announced sending a Patriot air defense unit to Slovakia after the country delivered the only S-300 system in service to Ukraine.
“On my instructions and at the invitation of the Slovak side, the European Command of the military America will deploy a Patriot air defense system to Slovakia. This complex will be operated by US soldiers, the equipment and personnel will arrive at the new location in the next few days. The deployment deadline has not been determined,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement yesterday.
Pentagon officials are also consulting with the Slovak government on options for building long-term air defense capabilities, after the country delivered the only S-300 missile system in service to Russia. Ukraine.
Patriot missile launchers were deployed by the US in Croatia in 2021. Photo: US Army.
“The deployment of the Patriot complex is in line with our efforts to strengthen NATO’s defense capabilities, as well as to fulfill the collective security requirement under Article 5 of the NATO treaty. This system will support. NATO’s multinational combat group in eastern Slovakia, which includes German and Dutch air defense complexes,” the statement read.
Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger confirmed yesterday that it had supplied the S-300PMU air defense system to Ukraine, saying the move “does not mean that Slovakia has become part of the armed conflict in Ukraine”.
Russia and Ukraine have not commented on the information.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on March 18 that no country could transfer S-300 missiles to Ukraine because the agreement and contract for the sale of S-300 between the parties included provisions not to transfer these weapons to third parties. father. Lavrov also warned that any arms shipments to Ukraine are considered “legitimate targets” by Russia.
Slovakia, which shares a 98-kilometer border with Ukraine, has a Soviet-made S-300PMU system that was delivered after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993. Slovakia had asked NATO to provide a solution. suitable replacement air defense such as the Patriot missile if the S-300 system is delivered to Ukraine.
There is no exact data on the number of Ukrainian S-300 systems that are still operational. This country employs the S-300PT, S-300PS complexes manufactured in the Soviet Union for the air defense force, and the S-300V version for the army with anti-ballistic missile capabilities.
Experts estimate that Ukraine has about 6 S-300 systems with 36 ammunition trucks cum launchers in combat readiness in the period 2004-2014. Escalating tensions with Russia prompted Ukraine to rush to repair and put into service many S-300 batteries, with at least four batteries overhauled between 2014 and 2015. At least 34 ammunition trucks and launchers were abandoned in Crimea when Russian forces entered the peninsula in early 2014.
The Russian military has claimed to destroy many S-300 launchers of Ukraine since the conflict broke out on February 24, and also published a video of ambushes on S-300 missile sites and depots, including many facilities around the capital Kiev.
The size of the military force on the eastern flank of NATO. Click on the picture to see details.
Vu Anh (According to Politico)
at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here
