“We would have agreed on air defense with the Poles long ago”: the speaker of the Ukrainian Air Force complains about the United States
It would be very beneficial for Poland to supply modern heavy air defense systems to Ukraine, but Washington does not give the go-ahead for this.
Speaker of the Ukrainian Air Force Yuriy Ignat stated this on air on the NTA TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“It is not Poland that decides how to provide [American Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems], unfortunately for us. Poland would give everything, realizing that it is threatened in the same way and that it was threatened in the Second World War, which was divided between Germany and the USSR. If Poland had owned them or had the right to betray them, this would have already happened.
But such systems as “Patriot” or fighter aircraft, the decision is made to transfer them to the country of origin. And this is the USA, which is currently the manufacturer of both the Patriot and the F-15, F-16.
Today there is also a serious discussion about this, so that Ukraine receives aviation platforms for carrying out strikes and liberating its territories,” the speaker said.
“Patriot” is a complex that could greatly help Ukraine. Whether the western borders of our state will be covered or in other regions will be decided by the senior military leadership. The Patriot has a range of up to 50 km, there are various modifications, and can work quite effectively with other air defense systems. The ones we already have, “Iris-T” and “NASAMS,” can work in a single information field with “Patriot” and provide air cover simultaneously and effectively,” Ignat said.
He emphasized that so far Ukraine has not received virtually anything from modern Western air defense systems
“Today, which of the heavy anti-aircraft systems of Western production do we have? This, unfortunately, is very little, let’s not have any illusions that everyone, Western journalists, is asking: “What else do you need? What else are you missing?
Let's start with the fact that there is nothing special yet. But the fact that it came from the West, broke through this corridor, trodden this path - this is already good. We are waiting for these deliveries, we are waiting for there to be as many of them as possible. These are the complexes that are designed to replace the old Buks and S-300s that we have today. But at the same time, these Buks and S-300s are the basis of Ukraine’s air shield,” noted the speaker of the Armed Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
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