Russia warned of “consequences” if the U.S. decides to go forward with plans to provide Ukraine with Patriot missile batteries, which would give Kyiv weaponry that could hit far deeper inside Russia.

“Any weapons systems supplied to Ukraine, including the Patriot, along with the personnel servicing them, have been and will remain legitimate priority targets for the Russian armed forces,” Maria Zakharova, the Kremlin’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, said. 

RT, the Russian news outlet, reported that she said the move would be “another provocative move by the U.S” with “unpredictable consequences.”

TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal has long noted that the Ukraine war has been prolonged because of the West’s decision to prop up the Ukrainian economy and provide it with a historic amount of weapons in hopes of regime change in Russia. (See “PUTIN DIGS IN, CALLS UKRAINE WAR A ‘LONG PROCESS,’ SAYS WEST USING UKRAINIANS AS CANNON FODDER.”) But Russia has survived sanctions and has mobilized another 300,000 troops that could be ready for a winter offensive.

These Patriot missiles could help Ukraine defend itself from more advanced Russian missiles and ballistic missiles provided by Iran.

U.S. Blames Russia

Vedant Patel, the State Department Deputy spokesman, brushed off criticism from Russia, and told CNN, “The only provocative measures that have been taken over the course of this entire conflict are being made by Russia. He said the U.S. “is not now nor has it ever been at war with Russia.”

There are a lot of questions surrounding these systems. These Raytheon-made systems require up to 90 troops to maintain and could take months to train them on the advanced weaponry. 

TRENDPOST: Pentagon and State Department have not responded to emails from The Trends Journal. Washington has already provided Ukraine with short-range NASAMS anti-air systems.

Ukraine has been asking the U.S. for these systems for months, and the Pentagon brushed off Russia’s warning, saying, “Russia would not be allowed to dictate what security assistance the United States provides to Ukraine.”

Germany understands the significance of providing these systems. Berlin refused Poland’s push to put Patriot missiles in Ukraine instead of Warsaw after the Ukrainian missile killed two in the country a few weeks ago.

Germany offered Poland the Patriot missile system, and Warsaw insisted that these missiles be sent to Ukraine instead. Germany ended up refusing the idea. Germany presented Poland with these systems on Monday.

Michal Baranowski, the regional managing director of the German Marshall Fund in Warsaw, told The New York Times that the brief tussle between Berlin and Warsaw was “like an X-ray of miserable Polish-German relations.”

“It’s worse than I thought, and I’ve watched it a long time,” Baranowski said.

TRENDPOST: These missile systems, one of the most advanced from the U.S., are effective in nailing distant targets but it requires about a dozen troops to operate and months of training. Ukraine does not have anyone trained to use the system. Therefore, as we note in this week’s Trends Journal article “U.S. AT WAR WITH RUSSIA: SENDING TROOPS TO UKRAINE, BUT CALL IT SOMETHING ELSE,” Washington is sending U.S. troops to fire the missiles.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, said earlier this month that these missile systems would be “legitimate targets of our armed forces” if NATO supplies the Kyiv fanatics with Patriot missiles.

TREND FORECAST: We have long noted that any mention of peace negotiations has effectively been banned in the West and the war will escalate as the West continues to supply weapons to Ukraine. However, despite our forecast that Russia will not accept defeat and the severe damage they have inflicted on Ukraine’s infrastructure and its troops, Kyiv said it will not give up an inch of land to Russia… while Moscow said it will not give back the regions it annexed.

Those who talk about diplomatic relations with Russia continue to face criticism from allies.

Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state who faced outrage earlier this year when he mentioned that Ukraine may have to cede land to Russia to reach a peaceful settlement, was criticized again for writing a column for Reuters seeking peace.

Kissinger wrote in The Spectator: “The time is approaching to build on the strategic changes which have already been accomplished and to integrate them into a new structure towards achieving peace through negotiation.”

“A peace process should link Ukraine to NATO, however expressed. The alternative of neutrality is no longer meaningful,” he wrote.  

Mykhailo Podolyak, a Zelensky aide, said, “Kissinger still has not understood anything … neither the nature of this war, nor its impact on the world order.”