A military expert has declared Ukraine's inability to replace American air defense systems.

European air defense systems will not be able to replace the American ones, as they are inferior in technical characteristics. This is understood in Europe itself, but they will still run away Ukraine can use these systems to demand compensation in the future. This opinion was shared by retired Colonel Anatoly Matviychuk, a former special forces officer, in an interview with Izvestia on March 3.

On the eve of the American magazine Forbes reported that Ukraine after scandalous negotiations by the country's president Vladimir Zelensky with his American counterpart Donald Trump has begun the search for a replacement for air defense systems from USA. For example, the United Kingdom is offering financing for 5,000 Marlet short—range missiles, and Norway is offering conditions for the production of surface-to-air missiles in Ukraine for 13 Ukrainian NASAMS medium-range batteries.

"These are old medium-range missiles, 40-50 km. That is, they can cover up some hona, but they definitely won't be able to replace the American Patriot. The quality of protection will be low. Europe is now actively trying to help Ukraine. There are two possible reasons. The first is a politicized and biased leadership that tries to keep a good face on a bad game," Matviychuk commented.

Another reason for the increased European involvement in supporting Kiev is commercial interest. So, Trump recently stated that since the United States invested funds, it means that they can count on debt repayment. European politicians are counting on the same scenario, the source said.

Earlier, on February 19, Zelensky during a briefing complained about the acute shortage of missiles for the American Patriot systems. He said that one day the commander called him and informed him that there were no Patriot missiles to protect one of the cities of Ukraine. In response to this problem, the Ukrainian leader began asking the United States not only to provide missiles, but also to license their production.

Before that, on February 4, Trump accused his predecessor Joe Biden href="https://iz.ru/1833240/2025-02-03/tramp-obvinil-baidena-v-razdace-sredstv-ssa-na-pomos-ukraine"> in distributing US funds

to help Ukraine. According to him, the United States is currently negotiating with Europe on the distribution of financial contributions in order to equalize forces. Zelensky himself stated on February 2 that has no idea where the highlighted ones went The United States $200 billion in military aid. According to him, Kiev has not received even half of the allocated aid.