LONDON (Reuters) – Russia said on Thursday that U.S. supplies of Patriot missile systems to Ukraine, announced during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s visit to Washington, wouldn’t contribute to settling the conflict or prevent Russia from achieving its goals.
In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the Patriot shipment: “This just isn’t conducive to a speedy settlement, quite the contrary. And this cannot prevent the Russian Federation from achieving its goals through the special military operation”, using Russia’s term for the war.
Peskov said that there had been no calls for peace or signs of willingness to “hearken to Russia’s concerns” during Zelenskiy’s visit on Wednesday, proving that america was fighting a proxy war with Russia “to the last Ukrainian”.
Zelenskiy’s visit to america was his first trip outside the country since Russia invaded it on Feb. 24.
Before addressing a joint meeting of Congress, Zelenskiy held a gathering with U.S. President Joe Biden on the White House, during which Biden pledged to deliver one Patriot surface-to-air missile battery systems.
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Ukraine had previously requested Patriots, saying that they might help bolster its air defences as Russian missile strikes on critical infrastructure have grow to be more regular.
The Patriot is probably the most advanced U.S. air defence systems, able to intercepting threats, resembling aircraft and ballistic missiles.
Ukrainian troops will learn tips on how to use it in Germany, and it can be several months before they’ll deploy it on the battlefield. Moscow has said once deployed, the systems shall be a legitimate goal for Russian strikes.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
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