Yuriy Ignat, the spokesman of the Air Force Command, explained why Ukraine needs Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems so much.

American long-range weapons will allow the creation of an echeloned air defense system, keeping enemy aircraft away from the borders. 

He told about this in an interview with Radio Liberty.

“Patriot is a long-range weapon that can hit its aeroballistic targets at a distance of up to 150 kilometers.

These complexes in certain directions could help drive Russian aircraft away from our borders, namely bombers such as the TU-22M3 or crews of the enemy's tactical aircraft," Yuriy Ignat emphasized.

According to him, the Ukrainian military is quite capable of mastering new anti-aircraft missile systems, as they have automated many processes.

However, learning will take some time.

"Relearning these complexes is not a big problem.

Although this will take some time," he said.

The spokesman of the Air Force Command emphasized that in order to "cover all needs" in air defense, Ukraine is ready to take all the means they can offer from Western partners.

"Today, the Air Force uses existing air defense equipment, aviation, and mobile groups to cover the most threatening directions, individual strategic objects of critical infrastructure.

However, this is not enough," Ignat said.

We will remind, on Wednesday, December 21, the White House announced the allocation of up to one billion dollars in military aid to Ukraine.

The US Secretary of State added that aid in the total amount of $1.85 billion will be given to Ukraine, including the Patriot air defense system. 

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