No decision on Israeli Patriot systems for Ukraine has been made yet

The decision to transfer Israeli Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine has not yet been made. This is due to the threats that Israel faces today.

This was stated by Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.

"As far as I know, there is no final decision yet, but if you look at the current situation in Israel, we need all the air defense systems that exist in Israel, including the Patriot system," he said.

The diplomat explained that Israel has many levels of air defense systems. However, the Iron Dome, known in Ukraine, cannot cope with long-range missiles and ballistic missiles. It is designed primarily to intercept short-range rockets fired by Hamas militants at Israel.

"We have other systems, mostly Israeli developments or Israeli-American developments. And Patriot is not the most advanced system. We are talking about Patriot systems that Israel received in the early 90s before the first Gulf War. You remember, back then, Iraq was firing at Israel with Russian-made Scud missiles. And then Patriots saved us," Brodsky said.

The ambassador added that there were talks about writing off the outdated Patriot systems to transfer them to Ukraine in the future. But there is no decision yet.

When asked whether Ukraine's acquisition of Israeli Patriot is directly related to the situation in the Middle East, Brodsky replied: "Yes, it is related to the threats that Israel is facing today."

Author - Dmitriy Levchenko, 07/08/2024