Russia warns ‘unpredictable consequences’ to Ukraine getting Patriot missiles
Mike Brest
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Russian officials are warning the Biden administration of “unpredictable consequences” if President Joe Biden goes through with a plan to provide Ukraine with a sophisticated air defense system Washington has previously declined to offer.
A statement from the Russian Embassy to the Washington Examiner on Thursday said that giving Ukraine a Patriot missile defense system would amount to “another provocative step by the administration” that “can lead to unpredictable consequences.”
PATRIOT MISSILE DEFENSE FOR UKRAINE COULD SAVE LIVES OR BE SEEN AS ESCALATION
The Patriot missile defense system, a Raytheon product, is designed to track and intercept incoming ballistic and cruise missiles. It would help the Ukrainians defend against aerial strikes Russian forces are launching using Iranian-made Shahed drones that are targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The system can require as many as 90 service members to operate and maintain it, and the training takes months.
“Even without delivery of the Patriot systems, the United States is increasingly drawn into the conflict in the post-Soviet republic,” the statement continued. “The weapons flow is growing, the training of servicemen is expanding. The Ukrainian army is being supplied with intelligence data.”
The Biden administration has provided Ukraine with nearly $20 billion in military aid since Russia invaded last February, and its strategy “causes enormous damage not only to the Russian-American relations, but also creates additional risks for global security,” the statement from the embassy added, also placing blame for the “prolongation and escalation of the Ukrainian conflict” on the United States.
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Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova made similar comments during a weekly briefing the same day.
She accused the U.S. of having “effectively become a party” to the war, and she said that the military aid to Ukraine, including the possible inclusion of a Patriot defense system, “would mean even broader involvement of military personnel in the hostilities and could entail possible consequences,” though she did not expound on such ramifications.