“All the same”
Vladimir Putin thinks“There is nothing new,” he said, in the HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems, which the US has decided to supply to Kiev. According to him, similar systems of Soviet and Russian production were already in service in the Ukrainian army – Grada, Smerch and Hurricanes.
The President emphasized that the range of the systems fully depends on the missiles.
“It depends on what kind of missiles the Americans are providing. What we hear and understand today are missiles that fly exactly 45-70 kilometers depending on the type of missile. The same thing happened with the Grads, Hurricanes, Tornadoes I mentioned – they also have a range of 40-70 kilometers, nothing new, ”the head of state is confident.
Compensation for losses
Putin believes what happened “has nothing to do with trust or distrust in the Ukrainian regime.” According to him, when the military special operation began, the Ukrainian army was armed with about 515 multiple launch rocket systems. Of these, 380 Russia was destroyed.
“But some have been restored, taken from stocks. As we understand it, they have about 360 in stock (today – socialbites.ca). We assume that this supply provided by the United States and some other countries is linked to compensating for losses of this military equipment. Nothing new here and nothing fundamentally changed,” the president explained.
The Russian leader noted that Ukraine also has applications for the supply of artillery. In this case, he probably believes that we are also talking about the restoration of those lost and destroyed during the hostilities.
drones
The Russian leader added that Ukraine also requests the supply of drones. According to him, among the UAVs that Kiev needs, there are also unmanned attack systems. The President noted that Ukraine has been using them from the very beginning.
“They are only used effectively where there is no military air defense system. we have. “Beech”, “Tors”, “Shells” – work extremely efficiently. And so that no one should be offended, but our air defense systems are cracking like hazelnuts, dozens of them have been destroyed,” he said.
He stated that Ukraine also has reconnaissance drones. Most of these UAVs have been flying over the country since the beginning of special operations, and the West initially supplied them all as they were “all foreign made”.
“There is a third type (BPL – socialbites.ca) – these are reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles of a strategic nature. They fly at an altitude of 8-11-10 km. They were used all the time – before the start of the operation – they flew over the Black Sea, over the territory of Ukraine. True, they did not fly to us, but they are used now, and they were used before. Why transfer them to Ukraine is not so clear to me. Unless you give us the opportunity to plant them somewhere and see how they are arranged. I just don’t see any other point. This doesn’t change anything,” he said.
Prolongation of the armed conflict
“I think the fuss about all this additional arms deliveries has one purpose – to prolong the armed conflict as long as possible,” said Putin.
The journalist also asked him what would happen if the US still delivered missiles to Ukraine, where Kiev could hit Russian territory.
“If they are procured, we will draw appropriate conclusions from this, we will use the means of destruction at our disposal to hit objects that we have not yet hit,” said the President.
Earlier, Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia, said in an interview with Al Jazeera that if Ukraine uses the delivered missile systems against Russian facilities, the Armed Forces will have no choice but to take action to defeat the decision-making centers.
“But in this case you have to understand that the final decision-making centers are unfortunately not even located on the territory of Kyiv. So this is definitely a threat that needs to be taken into account,” he said.
Earlier, the United States announced the agreement on the supply of multiple launch rocket systems HIMARS to Kiev, provided that they are not used to attack the territory of the Russian Federation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised to fulfill this requirement.