US Will Help Ukraine Replace Soviet-Era S-300 Air Defense Systems: Pentagon

Source: Newsweek

Published Sep 06, 2024 at 11:52 AM EDT Updated Sep 06, 2024 at 5:50 PM EDT


The U.S. said this week that they will work to help Ukraine replace Soviet-era S-300 air defense systems, amid their ongoing war with Russia.

On Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky along with several other U.S. military officials, where they spoke about the ongoing war with Russia and how the U.S. and other Western allies will help Kyiv with additional military assistance.

"With help from several European companies, the United States is working with Ukraine to design and build a substitute for the S-300 surface-to-air missile system and the R-27 air-to-air missile," Austin said in his opening remarks at the meeting. The meeting, which was held at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, was the first time Zelensky had visited the base. He encouraged the U.S. and allies to continue supplying new weapons to Ukraine.

"We need to have this long-range capability, not only on the divided territory of Ukraine, but also on the Russian territory, so that Russia is motivated to seek peace," Zelensky said. "We need to make Russian cities and even Russian soldiers think about what they need: peace or Putin."

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/us-pentagon-lloyd-austin-ukraine-russia-missile-systems-zelensky-1949880