Yes ok Ukraine manufactures your own drones and other weapons, and receives help from European countries, the sending of equipment and ammunition by USA It is still clue To face Russiaespecially Anti -aircraft defensesarmored vehicles and artillery systems.
To this should be added that real -time intelligence data that throughout the conflict has received from Washington now have also been cut by Trump.
In the case of patriot, these are irreplaceable. The CNN news chain reported that Ukrainian soldiers told him that his greatest immediate concern is not the impact of the cuts on the war front, but the lack of Patriot missiles that protect their families in Ukrainian cities.
A local resident passes in front of buildings seriously damaged by Russia bombings in Zaporizhia on January 26, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo of Genya Savilov / AFP).
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In Ukraine, the country’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhalit was clear in describing the importance of the patriot: “This is the only system capable of dealing with Russian ballistic missiles. The risk is related to the supply of Patriotboth in terms of repairs and maintenance and ammunition to protect Ukraine from ballistic missiles, ”he said.
Last year, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyhe said that his country needs 25 systems Patriot to effectively defend all your airspace.
However, CNN reported that Ukrana would have only half a dozen patriotalthough he remarked that the exact number and their location are jealously saved secrets.
A Ukrainian official told CNN that kyiv’s Patriot missile reserves could be exhausted in a weeks.
Only the United States could deliver the patriot
United States President Donald Trump and the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky meet at the Oval Office of the White House, on February 28, 2025. (Photo of Saúl Loeb / AFP).
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At this point, it is valuable to ask if the European allies who have missiles Patriot They could supply the United States and deliver their reservations to Ukraine.
Andrés Gómez de la Torrespecialist in defense and intelligence issues, he told Commerce that it must be taken into account that in the businesses related to the sale of sophisticated weapons, such as Patriotsuppliers usually place Prohibition clauses of transfer to third parties without its prior authorization. “That’s usual.”
In addition, for Gómez de la Torre “To Europe it would be difficult to part with its systems Patriotbecause they must also be worried in their own defense. ”
Regarding the danger that looms over the big Ukrainian cities, Gómez de la Torre commented that in recent years Russia has developed its military technology in cruise missilesballistics in improved versions and Hypersonicsomething that forces Ukraine to reinforce his anti -aircraft defense.
“It must be stressed that if there is a kind of slowdown or cut of the United States military aid, this will cause that Ukraine Racione the use of your stock, which will end up weakening your defense “he explained.
Gómez de la Torre added that in general, The European Union will not be able to sustain the logistics chain to Ukraine because many of its arsenales are diminished and its production capacity for now is slower than that of the United States.
“The supply chain and the logistics chain is vital today in a stage such as the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. All cuts or loss of this logistics and supply support chain is essential for the outcome or the course taken by the war ”he noted.
How are the patriot systems
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, next to a patriot system during a visit to a military training area in Misklemburg-Western Pomerania, Northeast of Germany, on June 11, 2024. (Photo by Jens Büttner / AFP).
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Patriot are one of the best anti -aircraft defense systems in the world. It was designed in the 60s and its production began in 1976.
They are able to tear down cruise and hypersonic missiles, short -range ballistic missiles and airplanes.
Patriot are manufactured by the company Raytheon Technologies.
The system consists of batteries that include A command center, a radar station to detect imminent threats and eight pitcherseach of which has four missiles.
Its scope is between 40 kilometers and 160 kilometers, depending on the type of missile used.
According to the United States Army, only three soldiers are needed to operate and shoot the missiles at the combat control station of the Patriot. However, the entire system requires about 90 soldiers to operate and maintain.
The system operation begins with the detection of an objective by the radar that tracks it to calculate the trajectory and speed. Then The threat communicates to the command center, where there will be a human operator or a computer system that executes the shooting order. Information about the monitoring of the interceptor missile and 3 seconds later a missile begins to travel 5 times the speed of sound To destroy the threat.
The system Patriot Use PAC-3 interceptor missiles, which have their own radar capable of detecting the target and addressing it autonomously.
This is how the Patriot anti -aircraft system works. (AFP).
Patriot are the most expensive team delivered by the United States to Ukraine. They have an estimated cost of US $ 1.1 billion.
In addition, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Each patriot missile costs about US $ 4 million.
The Patriot They were used against missiles ScudRussian manufacturing, launched by Iraq during the first 1990 Gulf War.
They were also deployed in 2003, during the American invasion of Iraq.
Among the countries that have the system Patriot There are Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Israel and South Korea.
In addition, the United States has deployed its own Patriot in Poland and Saudi Arabiaand has approved the sale to Kuwait, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates.
