March 17, 2022
By Jan Lopatka
Slovakia's Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad meets with U.S.
Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin at the Ministry of Defence of the Slovak
Republic in Bratislava, Slovakia, March 17, 2022. REUTERS/Radovan Stoklasa
BRATISLAVA, March 17
(Reuters) - Slovakia's defense minister said on Thursday that his country was
willing to provide Ukraine with S-300 air defenses if NATO allies find a
substitute, but his visiting U.S. counterpart told reporters he had nothing to
announce on that.
Ukraine has appealed
to Western nations for air defenses to help repel a Russian military onslaught,
now in its fourth week.
"We have been in discussion with U.S., Ukraine and also other allies on the possibility to deploy, send or give the S-300 to Ukrainians and we are willing to do so," Slovakia's Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad told a news conference.
"But willing to
do so immediately when we have a proper replacement."
U.S. Defense Secretary
Lloyd Austin, who was speaking alongside Nad, declined to say whether the
United States might be willing to fill the gap.
"I don't have any
announcements for you this afternoon. These are things that we will continue to
work with all of our allies on. And certainly this is not just a U.S. issue,
it's a NATO issue," Austin said, without elaborating.
U.S. President Joe
Biden on Wednesday announced an additional $800 million in security assistance,
including weapons to take down Russian planes and tanks. read more
But the kinds of air
defenses deployed in Slovakia are highly sought after by Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
NATO member Slovakia
has one battery of the S-300 air defence system, inherited from the Soviet era
after the break-up of Czechoslovakia in 1993.
It expects to get
Patriot missile defenses as part of a new NATO battle group that has just been
agreed to be deployed in the country as part of NATO's reinforcements on the
alliance's eastern flank.
But the Slovaks don't
see that as sufficient, given it will not be their system and it is not clear
how long it will be based in the country.
Slovakia shares a
98-kilometer (61-mile) border with Ukraine.
The country also
operates a small fleet of MiG-29 fighter jets, also dependent on Russian
servicing.
"We were
discussing various options for how to fill in this gap if we decided not to use
MiG-29s anymore," Nad said, adding that Slovakia was expected to get
Lockheed Martin's (LMT.N) F-16
fighter jets in 2024.
Reporting by Jan
Lopatka, Idrees Ali, Phil Stewart; writing by Phil Stewart; Editing by Chizu
Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis
Slovakia Sets Terms for Sending S-300s to Ukraine
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2022/03/17/slovakia-s300s-ukraine/
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