The White House said Tuesday that the US is speeding up the shipment of an air defense system to Ukraine after Russia launched a major barrage of missile strikes on infrastructure across the country.
The US has pledged to give Ukraine eight National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), but so far, none have been delivered. The NASAMS are being provided through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which allows the US government to purchase military equipment for Ukraine, but the process takes longer than sending arms directly from Pentagon stockpiles.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that two NASAMS should get to Ukraine soon. “We think that we’re on track to get those first two over there in the very near future,” he said. “We are certainly interested in expediting the delivery of NASAMS to Ukraine as soon as we can.”
President Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday and promised that the US would be sending over advanced air defense systems. The US uses NASAMS to protect the airspace over the White House and the Pentagon.
NASAMS is a joint project between the Norway-based Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace and Raytheon, the former employer of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Before taking his post at the Pentagon, Austin served as a board member for Raytheon, which has benefited greatly from the US policy of arming Ukraine.
The Kremlin said Tuesday that by sending air defense systems, the US would prolong the conflict and inflict more pain on Ukraine.
Did none of these people see “Wag the Dog”? Made as satire — as something far-fetched. But revealed a great deal about the assortment of dogs at the NATO pound waiting “rescue”. Remember: NATO membership has more than doubled in the past couple of decades. Arf! arf!
And here Russia didn’t even want to give few of their S400 to Syria. Just goes to show the difference of keeping your friendly states strong.
I think in the future Russia will be supplying weapons to any one who wants to stand up to the US regime , if Russia had backed Saddam or Gadaffi NATO wouldn`t have had such an easy ride .
I don’t think they wanted to give the US/Israelis a chance to see it in action. It seems that the F-35 can operate with the S300
Putin should begin hitting ports / air ports and rail transport to stem the flow of weapons , air defence weapons should be hit first the plan is to create a no fly zone if Putin can`t see that he needs to wake up .
The smuggling of weapons just got a lot more dangerous after yesterday’s bombing of strategic rail facilities in Shepetivka and Pavlohrad. By destroying the means to deliver weapons and munitions to the front, the Russians may be sending the message that they are no longer willing to play “Whack a Mole”.