Defense Minister of Ukraine: Special Representative of China does not believe that Patriot intercepted the "Daggers"
Chinese Special Representative Li Hui, who visited Kiev in May, doubted that Patriot missile defense systems are capable of shooting down hypersonic Dagger missiles. This was stated by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Alexey Reznikov, commenting on his talks with the Chinese diplomat. According to Reznikov, he expressed readiness to provide evidence, but Li Hui did not get acquainted with them. In early June, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky stated that Kiev needed 50 Patriot batteries. For more information, see the material "Newspapers.Ru".
China's Special Representative for Eurasian Affairs, Li Hui, who visited Kiev in mid-May, did not believe that the American Patriot missile defense systems could shoot down Russian hypersonic Dagger missiles. This was announced on Wednesday, July 5, by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Alexey Reznikov in an interview with the Financial Times newspaper.
"I suggested [to him] that if there are doubts, we are ready to provide evidence," the head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said, commenting on his talks with the Chinese special representative in May. According to Reznikov, Li Hui left Kiev without "getting acquainted with the evidence."
According to the FT, the Ukrainian Defense Minister was meeting with US officials when President Volodymyr Zelensky called him.
The Dagger was allegedly a formidable Russian hypersonic missile, which, as [Russian President] Vladimir Putin boasted, flew so fast that it was impossible to intercept it. But on that May day, Ukrainian forces launched the newly acquired Patriot system, one of the most advanced weapons supplied by the United States, which proves that Putin was wrong," the publication claims.
"The Ukrainian authorities regularly call on the West to provide Kiev with air defense systems. Two batteries of Patriot missile defense systems have now been transferred to Ukraine, and five batteries have been promised to Kiev in total," TASS notes.
Recall that at the end of May, China's special representative Li Hui called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and the preservation of new regions within the Russian Federation.
As The Wall Street Journal wrote, a diplomat sent to Europe to promote Beijing's peace plan to resolve the Ukrainian conflict then conveyed a clear message:
According to the interlocutors of the publication, Li Hui suggested that Europe consider China as an economic alternative to the United States and stressed the need to act quickly to put an end to the Ukrainian conflict and prevent its spread.
European officials indicated that they do not support the freezing of the conflict, and told the representative of the PRC that "it is impossible to separate Europe from America, and that Europe will not refuse to support Ukraine."
Grigory Plakuchev
