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Ukrainian Air Forces deny receiving Patriot missile system

The Financial Times previously reported that Ukraine allegedly received one of two Patriot missile defense systems promised to it by the US and Germany

MOSCOW, March 11. /TASS/. Ukraine has not yet received a Patriot surface-to-air missile system, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Forces, Yury Ignat, said on Friday, commenting on an earlier article by the Financial Times.

"At first, we were caught by surprise by the defense minister of Poland, speaking to the Spanish media, then Financial Times followed the suit. No, there have been no [Patriot systems in Ukraine], I haven’t seen them yet," he told Ukraine’s Rada television channel.

The Financial Times newspaper reported on Friday that Ukraine had presumably received one of the two Patriot systems, pledged by the United States and Germany. According to the report, the Kiev government is to receive more such systems from the Netherlands in the future.

Prior to that, Poland’s National Defense Minister told Spain’s La Razon newspaper that "thanks to Poland’s efforts, Patriot batteries have arrived in Ukraine." Later, the Polish ministry told the Ukrinform news agency that the minister’s words were interpreted incorrectly.

Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte said in January that his country would join the US-led project to provide Ukraine with Patriot missile systems. Earlier, the governments of the US and Germany announced their readiness to delive Patriots to Ukraine. In February, the Dutch premier said the delivery will take place in at least two months, and Ukrainian servicemen were currently being trained to use it.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on February 17 the delivery of those systems to the Kiev government was impossible at the moment. In turn, the Pentagon said that it had decided to train the Ukrainian military to use and maintain these systems at the US Army's Fort Sill, Oklahoma.