Conflict between Ukraine and Russia

This was confirmed on Sunday (12/18/2022) by the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry (Kemlu), Maria Zakharova.

Greece has considered sending Soviet-era weapons to Kiev if the United States agrees to replace them with the MIM-104 Patriot system.

“It would be a serious violation of the … Russian-Greek agreement … on military and technical cooperation,” Zakharova said.

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He added that the 1995 and 2013 agreements signed by Moscow and Athens in this area “explicitly prohibit Greece from re-exporting military equipment supplied by Russia without Moscow’s consent”.

“Trampling on its commitments under the agreement will certainly have consequences,” a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman warned.

“Such a move would also contradict the position of the majority of Greeks,” he said, adding that polls say 70 percent of Greeks are against “pumping Ukraine with weapons.”

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Though Zakharova did not cite her sources, a poll by Greek broadcaster Mega TV in March showed that about two-thirds of Greeks oppose sending military equipment to Kiev.

This was reported by the Financial Times on Tuesday (12/13/2022), quoting a senior Ukrainian military official.

Chief spokesman of the Ukrainian Air Force Colonel Yury Ignat told the agency that his air defense unit typically fires two S-300 or Buk missiles at each Russian shell to increase the chances of an interception.

However, this poses some challenges, as Ukraine is unlikely to purchase additional Russian-made missiles for this system.

“Meanwhile, finding available stock elsewhere is proving difficult,” the report said.

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Ignat went on to say that while Kiev is getting modern air defense systems from its Western backers, Ukraine will need “hundreds” of such weapons to replace its aging arsenal.

“We had no choice but to turn to this type of weapon because Soviet weapons from the 1970s and 1980s are both… obsolete and the enemy consumes them every day,” Ignat said.

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Russia began targeting Ukraine’s energy facilities in early October after it accused Kiev of attacking its critical infrastructure, including the strategic Crimean bridge.