President Biden on Friday praised Slovakia for providing an S-300 air defense system to Ukraine and said the U.S. will facilitate the transfer by moving a U.S. Patriot missile system to Slovakia.
Mr. Biden said advanced air-defense systems have been remarkably effective in repelling Russia’s military from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, and that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy specifically requested air assistance in recent conversations.
The U.S. will transfer its own system to “ensure the continued security of Slovakia.”
Russian forces have pivoted from attacks on Kyiv to bombarding eastern regions of Ukraine.
“Now is no time for complacency,” Mr. Biden said. “The Russian military may have failed in its objective of capturing Kyiv, but it continues to inflict horrific acts of brutality on the Ukrainian people.”
“As the Russian military repositions for the next phase of this war,” he said, “I have directed my administration to continue to spare no effort to identify and provide to the Ukrainian military the advanced weapons capabilities it needs to defend its country.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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