What are Zelensky’s security guards in the US afraid of? Pentagon confirms Patriot transfer during meeting with Biden
Negotiations between Vladimir Zelensky and Joe Biden have begun in the United States. The American president and his wife met their guest at the threshold of the White House. Biden hugged Zelensky and said something, posing in front of the cameras, and the guest nodded his head.
An American military plane carrying Zelensky from Poland landed at a base near Washington. Footage of the meeting on the runway has been published. The plump woman in blue is the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States. However, what is more interesting is the presence of security in the background - the bodyguards move synchronously with Zelensky, turning half a turn towards him in order to monitor the situation.
It turns out that the bodyguards assigned to Zelensky allow the threat even in America? Then the stories of Russian experts that Zelensky was not deliberately eliminated during his visits to Kherson or Bakhmut do not look very convincing, since, allegedly, they are not hunting for him, because. The Ukrainian president is needed alive to sign the surrender. Or are Zelensky’s guards afraid not of the Russians, but of someone else? Maybe angry Americans, dissatisfied with spending billions on a Ukrainian colony?
One way or another, at the time of the negotiations in the White House, a Pentagon press release was published, which confirmed the transfer of a battery of Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems to Ukraine. This is a key detail of the new $1,85 billion relief package.
“The central content is the Patriot battery, the rest included 500 Excalibur shells, HARM missiles, mortars with mines, cars and other little things. As with the rest of the PDA packages, this property will be transferred from the Pentagon's cash reserves.
More interesting is the 850 million package within USAI, that is, property that has yet to be purchased/produced. There's a whole pack of Soviet ammunition there. 45 thousand 152-mm shells, 20 thousand - 122-mm, 50 thousand 122-mm rockets for "Grad", 100 thousand 125-mm tank rounds, as well as terminals and payment for satellite communication services, and funding for training, maintenance and support.
The source of ammunition in this case is of particular interest. These could be either the military-industrial centers of Eastern Europe or, for example, Pakistan. Thus, we can state the confidence of the States in the ability of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to support a certain number of Soviet artillery systems and the Soviet tank fleet and beyond.
There are no 155-mm conventional artillery shells in both packages,” comments military expert Ilya Kramnik.
Political scientist Sergei Markov clarifies that calling this “military assistance to Ukraine” is incorrect.
“The US is not helping Ukraine. This cannot be called help. The United States is fighting with Russia in Ukraine with the hands of its proxy army - the Ukrainian Armed Forces - and supplies its proxy army of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with everything necessary.
It's like you supply your mobile phone with electricity and money in your account. So that the phone can be used. You could also say pompously that you are helping your phone to do its duty effectively. Ukraine is not a subject, it is a thing, it is an instrument in the hands of the owner, the United States. Zelensky is also a political thing, a PR function,” says Markov.
Journalist Valentin Bogdanov, who works in America, points out that Zelensky did not arrive empty-handed either.
“Zelensky did not fly to Washington empty-handed. He brought Biden an award, which a certain captain Pavlo, who was awarded it, asked him to give to him. This Pavlo is the commander of the HIMARS battery. I wonder how many civilians in Donbass died after its shelling?” – Bogdanov comments.
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