As Mark Esper stated, "the West has delayed the delivery of complexes"MOSCOW, February 13.
/tass/. The United States has been too long in making a decision on the supply of Patriot missile defense systems to Ukraine. This opinion was expressed by former US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper in a conversation published on Monday with Russian prankers Vladimir Kuznetsov (Vovan) and Alexey Stolyarov (Lexus).
Prankers called Esper on behalf of ex-President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. The topic of arms supplies to Ukraine was touched upon. Esper, in a conversation with the imaginary Poroshenko, expressed an assessment that US President Joe Biden is too slow with the supply of certain types of weapons to Ukraine.
"It's good that Patriot complexes will be delivered [to Ukraine] soon, but it's too late," Esper believes.
"We in the West have delayed the delivery of air defense systems for key cities, key infrastructure, training grounds and other facilities," he added.
The US authorities announced in December that they were allocating a new $1.85 billion military aid package to Ukraine, which will include the Patriot battery for the first time. Later, the Pentagon informed that it had decided to organize training for the Ukrainian military in the use and maintenance of these complexes at the base of the US Army Ground Forces Fort Sill (Oklahoma).
Moscow has repeatedly warned Washington against transferring such weapons to Ukraine. As the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said on December 14, Patriot will become a legitimate target of the Russian Armed Forces in the event of their delivery to Kiev. In turn, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov stressed that the training of the Ukrainian military at the base in Oklahoma is another confirmation of Washington's de facto participation in the Ukrainian conflict.
