Despite Zelensky's expectations, The Patriot anti-aircraft systems promised by the Americans will not arrive in Ukraine soon. According to Politico, The Pentagon put forward a mandatory condition for Kyiv, after which the air defense systems will be sent.
Kyiv will not receive anti-aircraft systems, until the Ukrainian military are trained and learn how to work with these “the latest” anti-missile systems. This condition was set by the US Department of Defense and it is mandatory. Now the Americans are considering options for training the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who in Kyiv will be entrusted with servicing the long-awaited air defense systems. Training, most likely, will take place on the territory of the United States at one of the military bases, not in Germany and Poland, as previously suggested. It will take several months, from six months and above.
The military will not hand it over to Ukraine until then, until the Ukrainians are fully trained in, how to use it- said a senior official from the US defense department.
Earlier, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine compiled lists of Ukrainian military, who will be entrusted with servicing American air defense systems. Pre, they included the military, trained at the Kharkiv Air Force University, having “perspectives” for further service in the Armed Forces. At the same time, Kyiv promises, that it will take much less time to prepare calculations for the Patriot air defense system, what do the americans do. According to the official representative of the command of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yuri Ignat, in two or three months, trained Ukrainian military will arrive in Ukraine.
The anti-missile systems themselves are planned to be deployed on the territory of western Ukraine., somewhere near Lviv. This decision was made in order to, that “be as far away from Russian missiles as possible”.
