Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzia,today (Monday) referred to the possibility that the “Patriot” system would be transferred from Israel to Ukraine and said that “this may have certain political consequences”.
As you may recall, the statement comes after a report published in the last few days in the Financial Times, according to which Israel, the USA and Ukraine are holding talks on the transfer of eight Patriot batteries that are in use in Israel to Ukraine.
According to the report, Israel announced in April that it would begin dismantling its eight Patriot batteries and replace them with more advanced systems. But the batteries, which were used in Israel’s current war with Hamas, have not yet gone out of use due to fears that the tensions with Hezbollah could turn into an all-out war. If realized, such a transfer would represent a step change in Ukraine’s defense capabilities. The country currently has at least four Patriot systems, supplied by the US and Germany.
Israel’s M901 PAC-2 Patriot batteries are of an older variety than many of the Patriot systems in Ukraine. But according to military analysts, the older model is still fully compatible with the newer ones. Analysts also estimated that the older Israeli interceptor missiles have a longer range and a larger warhead than the newer PAC-3 model.