Ukraine's Foreign Minister: Biden’s decision opens door for more Patriot systems

Dmytro Kuleba, the head of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, believes that US President Joe Biden’s decision to transfer a MIM-104 Patriot air defence system to Ukraine is a precedent, which opens the door for similar steps by other allies.

The minister noted this while commenting on the results of his visit to the USA, writes European Pravda.

"Ukraine will soon receive the first battery of these state-of-the-art systems, which ensures a completely new level of sky protection. Even more importantly, this decision by President Biden opens the door for other Patriots", Kuleba notes.

He also says that the path to this US decision was a longone, and it started even before the full-scale war.

According to him, Andrii Yerma, the Head of the Office of President of Ukraine, was the first to publicly call on the US to provide the system in April 2021.

"I remember how people were sceptical about this call then, but we believed and worked at all levels. I remember how in November-December 2021, I raised this issue at the negotiations.

In the very first days of the war, President Zelenskyy, Yermak, me and [Defence Minister Oleksii] Reznikov again convinced the American partners: we need Patriots! At the end of November, we resumed this conversation again. In particular, when I was at the NATO ministerial meeting, I frankly said that I came for power transformers and Patriots", Kuleba said.

The final chord, according to the Minister, took place in December, during a telephone conversation between the leaders of Ukraine and the United States.

"Patriots in Ukraine will save lives and civil infrastructure. This is another strategic defeat for Russia, which will lose its leverage of intimidation and terror. This is the approach of the day of our Victory, especially since there were many other important topics at the negotiations apart from Patriots", emphasised the minister.

Amid Zelenskyy’s visit to the US on Wednesday, the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken officially announced a new $1.85 billion military aid package for Ukraine, which included the transfer of the Patriot air defence system for the first time ever. 

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