IN THE WORLD TODAY

Deployment of US missiles ‘ provocative’

RUSSIA’S foreign ministry has warned that if the United States confirms reports that it plans to deliver sophisticated air defence missiles to Ukraine, it would be “another provocative move by the US” that could prompt a response from Moscow.

Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a weekly briefing that “the US has effectively become a party” to the war in Ukraine, following reports that it will provide Kyiv with Patriot surface- to- air missiles, the most advanced the West has yet provided to help Ukraine’s military repel Russian aerial attacks.

Zakharova added that growing amounts of US military assistance, including the transfer of such sophisticated weapons, “would mean even broader involvement of military personnel in the hostilities and could entail possible consequences”.

US officials said on Tuesday that Washington was poised to approve sending a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine, finally agreeing to an urgent request from Ukrainian leaders desperate for more robust weapons to shoot down incoming Russian missiles that have crippled much of the country’s vital infrastructure.

A Patriot battery can need as many as 90 troops to operate and maintain it, and for months, the US was reluctant to provide the complex system because sending forces into Ukraine to operate it is a non- starter for the administration of US president Joe Biden.

Yet concerns remain that even without the presence of US troops to train Ukrainians on how to use the system, deployment of the missiles could provoke Russia or risk a missile hitting inside Russia, further escalating the conflict.