Ukraine denied, on Wednesday, Moscow’s allegations of destroying the “Patriot” missile defense system in the capital, Kiev, which is a valuable weapon owned by its army, stressing that it “works well.”
“No worries, everything is fine with the Patriot system,” Yury Ignat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, told AFP.
“The Patriot system is operational and everything is fine,” he added.
However, he said he “does not comment” on the reports that the missile interception system was damaged, but not completely destroyed.
On Tuesday, the Russian army claimed that it had destroyed the Patriot system after a “high-precision strike” with a “Kinjal hypersonic missile.”
Kiev denied these Russian allegations, confirming that it had intercepted all the missiles launched by Russia on its territory, on Monday night.
And Ukraine announced, in mid-April, that it had received the first US Patriot air defense systems, a promise made by US President Joe Biden to his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, last December, during the latter’s visit to Washington.
In early May, Kiev announced that it had shot down, for the first time, a Russian hypersonic “Kinjal” missile over Kiev using the Patriot system.
This system helps the Ukrainian army to confront Russian attacks, as Kiev has always confirmed that these weapons will be used “defensively” and not to hit Russian territory.
The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, had said that the Kremlin forces would find a solution to circumvent this advanced system to continue striking Ukraine.
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2023-05-17 12:44:28
