“Soldiers from the Ukrainian military arrived here,” at the Fort Steele military base, “to begin air defense training,” said the commander of the artillery school.
Ukrainian soldiers arrived yesterday Sunday at a US military base in Oklahoma to be trained in the use of the Patri air defense systemot, which Washington will provide to Kyiv.
“Soldiers from the Ukrainian military have arrived here,” at the Fort Steele military base, “to begin air defense training,” Curtis King, commander of the base’s artillery school, told Fox News.
“This training will focus on the operation and maintenance of the Patriot air defense system,” he added.
The US sending its most advanced anti-aircraft system to Ukraine is unprecedented since the beginning of the war. Kyiv has long called for the Patriots to counter airstrikes from Russia.
The death toll from Saturday’s Russian attack on an apartment building in the city of Dnipro rose to 40 today, making it one of the deadliest bombings since the start of the war, and the death toll still risks rising.
The training that begins in Oklahoma will be for “90 to 100 Ukrainian soldiers,” the US Department of Defense said on January 10.
“Once on the ground, the Patriot (…) will contribute to Ukrainian air defenses and provide the Ukrainian people with additional means to defend themselves against ongoing Russian airstrikes,” Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder added.
The delivery of such a tool represents “a very important step in creating a safe airspace for Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a surprise visit to Washington in late December, when this new military aid was announced .
The Patriots are particularly capable of shooting down cruise missiles, short-range ballistic missiles and aircraft, at an altitude significantly higher than that of defense systems previously envisaged.
At present, the US has planned to deliver to Ukraine an array of Patriots, each missile of which costs three million dollars.
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