U.S., Israel Near Agreement to Send Patriot Systems to Ukraine

سعر البحث

مجاني
U.S., Israel Near Agreement to Send Patriot Systems to Ukraine
الجمعة 28 يونيو, 2024

The West has scrambled to send more air-defense systems to Kyiv amid a barrage of Russian attacks

By Nancy A. Youssef and Gordon Lubold, WSJ

The U.S. and Israeli governments are in talks to send as many as eight Patriot batteries to Ukraine, people familiar with the discussions said Thursday, a decision that could dramatically increase Kyiv's air-defense capabilities. The U.S.-provided Patriot batteries have been on loan to Israel for years and were recently retired.

"It's been discussed between the U.S. and Israeli governments but nothing has been determined," one of the people familiar with the discussions said.

Ukraine is in desperate need of more air-defense systems, and the U.S. has been on the hunt to provide more of its own Patriot systems to help shore up Ukrainian de- fenses in its conflict with Russia.

Sending eight Patriot systems from Israel to Ukraine would essentially triple Kyiv's arsenal. Ukraine is believed to have four Patriots, including two from European donors.

Israel said in April that it planned to mothball the Patriots, because they were being replaced with newer systems. The retirement of those systems opened the way for talks to redeploy them to Ukraine, U.S. officials and others familiar with the talks said.

While initially open to the idea, Israel now has expressed concerns to the U.S. about the plan, because of concerns it might need the Patriots if a conflict opens in the north with Hezbollah, one of the individuals familiar with the talks said.

Israel's relationship with Moscow might be the key issue, however. The Israeli government has condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine but has declined to send weapons to Ukraine for fear of upsetting its relationship with Moscow.

Israeli officials have said privately that providing military assistance to Ukraine would upset an arrangement with Russia that allows the Israeli air force to conduct operations over Syria.

"Before the war in Ukraine, there had been a fairly extensive set of understandings between Russia and Israel. They involved the war in Syria, Russians in Israel, and Iran's regional activities," said Jon Alterman, a senior vice president at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"But the war in Ukraine turned the Israeli calculus on its head because it pushed Russia to align more closely with its principal regional adversary, Iran," he added.

The National Security Council and the Pentagon declined to comment.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky intensified calls for more air-defense systems this spring after Russia's military ramped up attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. He said the country needs at least seven more Patriot systems.

A spokesman for Zelensky didn't respond to a request for comment.

Russia has long used ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as explosive drones, against Ukrainian cities. In recent months, Moscow's forces have increased their use of massive glide bombs, launched from aircraft behind the front lines. In response, the U.S. said last month it would send Ukraine an additional Patriot missile-defense system to protect against Russian attacks and urged Kyiv to seek air defenses from other allies.

The Financial Times earlier reported the talks to provide the Patriots to Ukraine. Patriot batteries, which have helped protect Ukrainian troops and civilian assets over recent months, including around Kyiv, are complex assemblages of networked elements, including radar, launchers and interceptor systems. Each can fire dozens of interceptor missiles in a single engagement with attacking planes, missiles or rockets. Israel has an array of other air-defense systems that it leans on for its defense, including its Iron Dome, the country's key defense against rocket attacks, and the Arrow, which is used against ballistic missiles.

البحوث ذات الصلة

ابحث

أهم الفئات

اختصارات شائعة