US to start training Ukrainians on Patriot missile system in Oklahoma next week
Mike Brest
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The Department of Defense will begin training Ukrainian forces on the Patriot missile system at Fort Sill in Oklahoma as soon as next week.
“I can confirm that training for Ukrainian forces on the Patriot air defense system will begin as soon as next week at Fort Sill Oklahoma. Training will prepare approximately 90 to 100 Ukrainian soldiers to operate, maintain, and sustain the defensive system over a training course expected to last several months,” Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, announced at Tuesday’s briefing.
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This is the only training the United States will provide to Ukrainian forces, Ryder said, though he noted that could change in the future.
“The focus is on this initial class certainly will keep dialogue open in terms of any potential future training, but right now, the focus is on training these operators to operate this system,” he explained.
The Patriot missile defense system, a Raytheon product, is designed to track and intercept incoming ballistic and cruise missiles, and 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 base is home to both basic Patriot missile defense training and field artillery training for U.S. troops.
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Russian officials warned the Biden administration of “unpredictable consequences” last month if President Joe Biden went through with providing Ukraine with the Patriot missile system, while Ryder said in response at the time the U.S. will not “allow comments from Russia to dictate the security assistance” the Biden administration provides.
“I find it ironic and very telling that officials from a country that brutally attacked its neighbor in an illegal and unprovoked invasion through a campaign that is deliberately targeting and killing innocent civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure, that they would choose to use words like provocative to describe defensive systems that are meant to save lives and protect civilians,” Ryder said at the time.