The European Union is pressuring Greece and Spain to send more air defense systems to Ukraine, according to foreign press reports. Today, at the Council of Foreign Ministers, held in Luxembourg, Kiev asked for further support.
As the Star’s correspondent in Brussels, Maria Psara, reported in the central news bulletin, it seems that the Ukrainians are eager for the S-300, which Greece has in Crete and does not use.
Ukraine urgently requests from its Western allies at least 7 additional air defense systems, mainly Patriot but also Soviet-type systems, such as the S-300 that Greece has. According to the Financial Times newspaper, during the Summit, European leaders spoke on a personal level to Kyriakos Mitsotakis to give some of the air defense systems to Ukraine. The leaders told Mitsotakis, but also Spain’s Pedro Sanchez, that their countries do not need these systems as much as Ukraine, since, they said, Greece and Spain do not face any immediate threat.
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Kiev appears to have expressed particular interest in Greece’s aging S-300 systems, which Ukrainian forces already have in their arsenal and know how to use. So the pressures on Greece are intense to at least make these systems available.
P. Marinakis: Greece will not risk its air defense
However, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis, in a civil statement, emphasized that Greece will not risk its air defense.
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Tags: pressure Greece Spain Ukraine Greece risk air defense Pavlos Marinakis
