In the near future, the Pentagon will begin training Ukrainian personnel in the operation and maintenance of the Patriot missile system.

Training of the Ukrainian military to work with Patriot missile systems should begin very soon.

This was announced by a senior official of the US Ministry of Defense. According to CNN, he clarified that to date, the US has trained about 3,100 Ukrainian military personnel to work with various systems. Almost half of them were trained in the handling of M777 howitzers or HIMARS rocket launchers, two systems that have so far been critical to the armed forces. Ukrainian forces also received training in equipment, various types of artillery, drones and other systems.

And in the near future, the Pentagon will begin training Ukrainian personnel in the operation and maintenance of the Patriot missile system, which was officially announced yesterday during the visit of President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to the United States.

Although the Pentagon did not specify when exactly the training will begin and how long it will last, a senior official of the Ministry of Defense said that it will begin “very soon” and will take “several months.”

According to the Pentagon, the Patriot system costs between $450 million and $550 million, depending on the configuration, and each missile costs about $4 million.

Patriot for Ukraine

During the trip of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to Washington, US President Joe Biden confirmed the transfer of one Patriot air defense system battery to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military will be trained in the use of air defense systems in third countries, this may take “some time”.

Ukraine urged its partners to hand over American complexes in the first months of a full-scale invasion, but the West feared escalation.

And today, the spokesman of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Yuriy Ignat, said that the Ukrainian military can master the American Patriot air defense systems in a few months.