Officer Krapivnik: 30 NATO troops could have been eliminated along with the Patriot air defense system
More than 30 military personnel of Western countries could have been destroyed along with two Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems (SAM) near Pokrovsk, Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). These figures were given by former American army officer Stanislav Krapivnik.
The fact that Russian artillerymen destroyed two American Patriot air defense systems with a missile strike from the Iskander-M operational-tactical missile system became known on March 9. The complexes were located less than ten meters from each other.
According to Krapivnik, the Patriot air defense system was most likely serviced by US military personnel, but he admitted that military personnel from other countries of the North Atlantic Alliance could also be on site. The expert explained that one battery of two Patriot air defense missile launchers is usually serviced by 20-30 people.
For example, these systems are still used by the Germans. Right now in Ukraine there are quite a lot of Patriot air defense systems handed over by the Germans. I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out that the British were there too. Because last time it was a group of Englishmen who were destroyed along with Patriot
The State Duma allowed losses among the US military during the destruction of the Patriot air defense system
State Duma deputy from the Crimean region Mikhail Sheremet clarified that the complex consists not only of launchers, but also of a multifunctional radar, which is a technically complex means. To serve it, Washington could secretly send its military personnel to Ukraine, the parliamentarian pointed out.
Discussing the fate of the crew of the Patriot air defense system destroyed in the Pokrovsk area, Forbes military columnist David Ax said that the military personnel were probably completely liquidated. “The Ukrainians lost up to 13 percent of their Patriot launchers in one disaster,” Ax noted. According to the observer, Ukraine's ability to block the sky has weakened significantly.
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Ukraine will not be able to quickly replace destroyed Patriot air defense systems
According to Forbes, the process of Kiev replacing Patriot could take months or years. It is noted that the cost of the complexes will be millions of dollars, which are not included in the Ukrainian budget. In addition, US Congress Republicans are blocking further assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).
In turn, retired colonel and military expert Anatoly Matviychuk explained that the main difficulty with replacing the Patriot air defense systems is related to their delivery to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He noted that Patriot is a very bulky system, and it is quite problematic to deliver it to Ukraine. “The Americans have a limited number of them, and they have stopped production. They produced for themselves, and they had nothing left to sell,” Matviychuk said. He concluded that this loss for Ukraine is almost irreparable, unless it is possible to reach an agreement with Poland on the supply of reserves.
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