The fact that there is not any news on the combat work of US-supplied Patriot air defense system in Ukraine shows that it was severely damaged by Russian missile and in certainly not present on the battlefield, ex-CIA analyst and expert on national security Larry Johnson said in an interview with online media.
“Remember when we heard about Patriot missile batteries? …. You haven’t heard anything about that in months. That was send to Ukraine, it got blown up so it appears that what we send has been either destroyed or broken and under repair and certainly not present on the battlefield,” Johnson stressed commenting on the US arms supplies to Kiev.
Veteran analyst was obviously referring to the incident in May 2023 when the US-made Patriot was hit by Russian hypersonic Kinzhal (Dagger) Missile in Kiev, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Military experts stressed that Patriot lost all of its 32 missiles trying to intercept Russian projectile and this effort reportedly cost the US roughly $96 million. However, the Pentagon and other US officials were vague at best when commenting on the incident.
According to Larry Johnson, after this failure the US has been sending “the second, third level stuff” to Ukraine. He suggested that some Pentagon “bureaucrats” have finally realized that unlimited support of Kiev with best weaponry will only “weaken US military strength” and “anger the Russians”. That’s why, says ex-CIA analyst, Ukraine will receive outdated Abrams tanks and bookers are already starting to take bets how long they will last on the battlefield.