Ukraine has received S-300 air defense system, according to Slovakia

Slovakia’s S-300 air defense system has been supplied to Ukraine to help it fight against Russian threats, according to Prime Minister Eduard Heger.

Heger said in a Facebook post on Friday that the donation of Soviet-made anti-aircraft batteries did not imply that the European Union and NATO member had entered the fight with Russia, which invaded Ukraine on February 24.

“I can confirm that, in response to Ukraine’s request for help, the Slovak Republic has donated the S-300 air defense system to Ukraine,” Heger stated.

“The system’s gift does not imply that the Slovak Republic has joined the armed conflict in Ukraine,” he continued.

Ukraine has requested military support from Western countries, including air defense equipment, to help it stave off a Russian military assault.

Following a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Friday, the US said that it would provide new weapon systems to Ukraine in reaction to Russia’s invasion.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US and 30 other countries were providing weaponry to Ukraine and that the process will intensify after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged him to do so because of bureaucratic bottlenecks.

Blinken added that the US had already promised to supply anti-aircraft systems, anti-tank weapons, and armored vehicles to Kyiv.

Pentagon sources indicated last week that not all of the equipment pledged to Ukraine by President Joe Biden in mid-March, including the S-300, had yet been delivered.

“We have focused on getting countries that hold Soviet legacy systems including S-300 systems, that have spare parts, missiles, and different parts of that S-300 system, who are willing to send that to Ukraine,” Celeste Wallander, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, told a congressional hearing.

She went on to say that the US was in talks with Slovakia about replacing its S-300 missile batteries with more contemporary Patriot missile batteries made in the US.

Slovakia indicated in March that it would only send the defense system to Ukraine if it was given an alternative to prevent a NATO security gap.