2 years ago
The U.S. will deploy a Patriot missile system to Slovakia, a NATO member state in Central Europe that borders the western tip of Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on Friday.
U.S. European Command will reposition the system, which can shoot down incoming missiles and will be manned by U.S. troops, Austin said in a statement. Both the system and its crew are expected to arrive in the coming days, and the length of the deployment has not yet been determined.
“This deployment of Patriot capabilities to Slovakia aligns perfectly with our previous efforts to bolster NATO’s defensive capabilities and to demonstrate our collective security requirements under Article 5 of the NATO treaty,” Austin said.
The system also “complements the NATO multinational battlegroup in eastern Slovakia, which includes air defense elements from Germany and the Netherlands,” he added.
Austin’s statement came just hours after Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger announced that his country would provide its S-300 air defense system to Ukraine as that country's troops fight off invading Russian forces.
“#Ukrainian nation is #bravely defending its sovereign country and us too,” Heger tweeted. “It is our duty to help, not to stay put and be ignorant to the loss of human lives under #Russia’s [aggression].”
President Joe Biden thanked Slovakia for providing Ukraine with the S-300, saying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had “personally raised” the issue of that air defense system in their conversations.
Sending the Patriot missile system will “enable this transfer and ensure the continued security of Slovakia,” Biden said in a statement.
The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that the Biden administration had authorized an additional $100 million in security assistance “to meet an urgent Ukrainian need for additional Javelin anti-armor systems.”
The latest security assistance is the sixth drawdown of equipment from the Defense Department’s inventories for Ukraine since last August, according to the Pentagon, and it comes after the department announced $300 million in security assistance last Friday.
The Pentagon on Thursday provided more details about its security assistance to Ukraine, saying it had committed more than 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, 5,000 Javelin anti-armor systems, 7,000 other anti-armor systems and hundreds of Switchblade Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems.
English (US)