According to officials from the U.S. Defense Department, Ukrainian troops will be heading to Fort Sill in Oklahoma next week. Ukrainian troops have been fighting a tireless war against the invasion of Russia and Ukraine.
The United States will provide training to the troops on the Patriot missile defense system, according to a government report. Troops will also learn how to run a Patriot battery, intended to shoot down attack planes, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles before they hit their targets. The Battery was promised to Ukraine as part of the $1.85 billion military assistance from the U.S. passed in December.
The Foreign Desk reports “Before this decision, the Ukrainian government only allowed its forces to leave the battlefield for short-term training on complex weapon systems at European bases under the instruction of American and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops.”
“It is a positive development, but a first step rather than the final one. Ukraine needs much more. It is unfair the U.S. has sought to constrain Ukraine’s fight to its own territory and given Russia a free pass to lob rockets and missiles in from afar,” Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon Official and Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) said to The Foreign Desk.
According to Defense Department spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder, the training will “prepare approximately 90 to 100 Ukrainian soldiers to operate, maintain, and sustain the defensive system over a training course expected to last several months.”
“Once fielded, the Patriot will contribute to Ukraine’s air defense capabilities and provide another capability to Ukrainian people to defend themselves against Russia’s ongoing aerial assaults,” Ryder added.
However, while “It helps address a problem: Iranian drones and Russian rockets…the question will quickly become supply.” While the training generally takes several months, the U.S. plans to “expedite the training course so the system can be activated in Ukraine.”