US Seeks to Deliver to Ukraine Soviet-Made S-300

U.S. State Department interested in Soviet S-300, according to reports. March. 15, 2022.

Published 15 March 2022

Opinion

A handout photo made available by Syrian Presidential Office shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (C) visiting the site struck by earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, 10 February 2023.

The West Should Lift Sanctions on Syria

by Rahim Volkov

The West and the Majority World - Repression Versus Openn...

by teleSUR/MS

According to reports from sources familiar with the Russia-Ukraine issue, the U.S. State Department is looking for countries that have access to the S-300 air defense system, which is a missile launching system manufactured by the Russian Military Industry, with the interest of supplying them to Ukraine.

The U.S., together with its allies, has already delivered a wealth of military equipment to Ukraine in recent years. In light of Russia's special military operation aimed at the demilitarization and denazification of the Ukrainian territory, the U.S. has undertaken to send hundreds of millions of dollars to the country.

RELATED:
US Stops Training Program for Ukrainian Forces

The sources reported that, at the moment, Washington is not sure where the missiles used by the S-300s could be obtained from, as they are manufactured exclusively by Russian defense companies. Congress has asked the Biden administration to transfer to Ukraine several Soviet-made heavy military equipment, including S-300s and MiG-29 fighters, they also revealed.

The White House should work "with allies and partners from Europe and also around the world, who are in a position to supply more munitions for things like the S-300 or other advanced air defense systems that we can work with to reinforce Ukraine's own capabilities," an aide to an unidentified Republican senator has said.

The S-300, which was considered one of the most advanced air defense systems in the USSR's arsenal at the time of the country's destruction in 1991, has been exported by Russia to Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and East Germany, but also have been sold to various countries in Asia and the Middle East, as well as to Greece and Venezuela since the 1990s. The system is currently operated within NATO by Bulgaria, Greece and Slovakia.

But no calls in US for sanctions against those @NATO member states for having Russian S-300s like they had for Turkey for procuring S-400s after US refuses to sell Patriot systems to a NATO ally.
So there is a way to synchronize these systems with #NATO
No hypocrisy right?? https://t.co/WGP7UsjB9k
— gökhan gökçe (@gokhangokce68) March 15, 2022

Ukraine inherited some 250 S-300 launchers from the USSR, of which only six complexes had been serviced by the early 2010s, with one additional unit repaired in 2012.

During the ongoing Russian military operation in Ukraine, the country's military has reported the destruction of at least 18 Ukrainian S-300 radar systems and one S-300 complex.

Last Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported the destruction of 137 Ukrainian air defense systems, including S-125s, S-300s and Buk-M1s, in Russian strikes. The ministry also noted that these losses account for more than 90% of Ukraine's air defense capability.