- US officials said this week they were planning to send Patriots to Ukraine
- The batteries can shoot down incoming missiles or aircraft
- Russia hit back on Thursday, warning of ‘consequences’ for Washington
- A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said the US had ‘become a party to the war’
- President Joe Biden and his secretary of defense have yet to sign off on the plan
- Ukrainian cities have lost power as Russia bombards key infrastructure
Russia warned the U.S. on Thursday that it risked escalating the war in Ukraine if it pushed ahead with plans to equip Kyiv with sophisticated air defense missile systems, warning Washington it would face ‘consequences.’
Unnamed U.S. officials this week said the Pentagon was preparing to send Patriot missile systems to Ukraine as Russia bombarded its power infrastructure from the air.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the U.S. had ‘effectively become a party to the war.’
The transfer of such sophisticated weapons, she added, ‘would mean even broader involvement of military personnel in the hostilities and could entail possible consequences.’
