Israel weighs Patriot system delivery to Ukraine amid rising threats from Iran
The discussion about transferring Israel’s Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine has not yet resulted in a decision, primarily because Israel faces threats from Iran, said Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Brodsky in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
"As far as I know, no final decision has been made yet. However, if you look at the current situation in Israel, we need all the air defense systems we have, including the Patriot system," said the diplomat.
He added that Israel has multiple layers of air defense, but the Iron Dome is not suited for long-range missiles and ballistic threats. It's mainly designed to intercept short-range rockets that are often fired at Israel by Hamas militants.
"We also have other systems, primarily developed either by Israel alone or in cooperation with the U.S. The Patriot is not the most advanced system. We are talking about Patriot installations that Israel received in the early '90s before the First Gulf War. You might recall that Iraq fired Russian-made Scud missiles at Israel, and the Patriots saved us then," assured Brodsky.
He mentioned ongoing discussions about decommissioning obsolete Patriot units to potentially transfer them to Ukraine in the future, though no final decision has been reached.