- Greece’s prime minister stated his nation can not give Ukraine its Patriots as a consequence of safety issues.
- Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated his nation wants them to guard its personal airspace.
- Ukraine has spent months begging its allies for Patriots to assist fend off Russian assaults.
One of Ukraine’s European allies is refusing at hand over Patriot air-defense methods as a result of it says it wants them to guard its personal airspace.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the prime minister of Greece, stated in an interview with Greek information outlet Iefimerida that his nation wouldn’t present Patriots or S-300 missile methods to Ukraine.
“Greece has supported Ukraine in various ways, including defense means,” he informed the outlet on Thursday, per a translation by Ukrainska Pravda.
“However, from the very beginning, we stated that we cannot give out defense systems that are crucial for our deterrence capabilities,” Mitsotakis stated.
Athens has provided Kyiv with 1000’s of rockets, explosives, infantry autos, high-explosive incendiaries, ammunition, and anti-tank rockets since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, per Reuters.
A breakthrough appeared potential final month when the NATO nation was reportedly contemplating sending Ukraine its Russian-made S-300 air protection missiles, if it was capable of get hold of US-made MIM-104 Patriots, in response to Greek media.
An alternate cope with the US to switch both a Patriot system based mostly in Athens or a Soviet-era S-300 system stationed on the island of Crete additionally appeared doubtless, Greek media reported in current days, per Politico.
But Mitsotakis appears to drag again on that in Thursday’s interview.
“The air defense systems you mentioned are critical for protecting Greece’s airspace and will not be provided to Ukraine,” he stated.
Greece has lengthy been at odds with Turkey, with the 2 neighbors coming near navy battle in 1987 and 1996. Both sides have accused the opposite of violating their airspace lately.
Ukraine is determined for air defenses to assist it counter Russian assaults.
Earlier this month, its overseas minister, Dmytro Kuleba, informed The Washington Post that his staff had recognized over 100 Patriot air-defense methods that they believed its allies might spare.
He stated they’d recognized 4 European and Asian international locations with Patriots that might be instantly despatched to Ukraine, with out naming the international locations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in the meantime, stated earlier this month that Ukraine wants 25 Patriot methods with between six and eight batteries every to guard itself absolutely.
Ukraine at the moment has between three and 5 Patriots, with the precise quantity and site of their deployment being saved secret.