MOSCOW, August 7. /TASS/. During the conflict in Ukraine, the elites of European countries planned to weaken Russia, however, the crisis involving missiles for the Patriot air defense system shows that the EU has only depleted its own arsenals, Russian Federation Council member from the Donetsk People’s Republic Alexander Voloshin told TASS.
Earlier, The Washington Post (WP), citing sources, reported that several European countries had refused to send to Ukraine interceptor missiles for the Patriot air defense system, without which Kiev’s air defense forces are unable to defend the capital. Specifically, on August 5, Ukrainian forces were unable to shoot down a single missile. The Europeans justified their refusal by citing concerns for their own security.
"It is becoming clear that European elites had hoped to see Russia weakened during the conflict in Ukraine, however, after several years of hostilities, they themselves have faced the depletion of their own arsenals and the need to rethink the entire architecture of European security. Virtually all of the surplus conventional weapons accumulated over decades have already been transferred to Kiev, and it has proven impossible to replenish them quickly. It turns out that the deindustrialization of the defense sector comes at a very real cost," Voloshin said.
