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U.S. fast tracks air defense interceptor missiles to Ukraine ahead of other countries
The U.S. is moving Ukraine to the top of the list to receive air defense interceptors to defend its cities against the onslaught of Russian missile attacks. The policy decision applies to interceptors the Patriot and other air defense systems use to shoot down incoming missiles and drones.
“We’re going to reprioritize the deliveries of these exports, so that those missiles rolling off the production line will now be provided to Ukraine,” White House National Security Communications adviser John Kirby told reporters on Thursday. “This will ensure that we’ll be able to provide Ukraine with the missiles they need to maintain their stockpiles at a key moment in the war.”
The first shipments of the missiles to Ukraine will happen over the coming weeks, according to Kirby, and Ukraine will see the initial deliveries before the end of the summer. He called the reprioritization a “difficult but necessary decision.”
The countries who have placed orders for the same missiles will still receive them but on a delayed timeline. Kirby said that the focus on Ukraine’s inventory will last for roughly the next 16 months, and then after that, other countries will start receiving the missiles they ordered.
Jens Buttner/Pool via REUTERS
In Italy at the G7 summit earlier this month, President Biden in a press conference with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said, “Everything we have is going to go to Ukraine until their needs are met. And then we will make good on the commitments we made to other countries.”
Taiwan is exempt because of its urgent need to also acquire similar capabilities in the face of threats from China.
The U.S. gave a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine last year after training a small group of Ukrainians at Fort Sill in Oklahoma on how to operate it. The U.S. has also committed several National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile systems and other older air defense systems.
Patriot systems can intercept both cruise and ballistic missiles and have a larger range, up to 100 miles, than the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile system which has a range of 80 miles and can shoot down cruise missiles and drones.
Zelenskyy has publicly asked the U.S. and allies to give seven more patriot systems. In Italy last week, he said, “urgently we need seven Patriot systems — yes, to save our cities.”
Russia in its war against Ukraine has targeted civil infrastructure with the apparent goal of depriving Ukrainian citizens of water, heat, and electricity, especially during the winter.
The U.S. is not alone in providing Ukraine with air defense capabilities. Members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a coalition of about 50 countries that meet monthly to discuss how to support Ukraine, have also pledged to help with air defense. After the most recent meeting last week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Netherlands is leading an effort to assemble different parts that make up a Patriot system and asking other countries to contribute as well.
The policy decision to fast track the missiles to Ukraine comes the same week that President Putin of Russia made a visit to North Korea to sign a defense pact as he looks for more support for Russia’s side of the war.
Simone Biles is heading back to the Olympics and the white-hot spotlight that comes with it.
The gymnastics superstar earned a third trip to her sport’s biggest stage by cruising to victory at the U.S. Olympic trials on Sunday night, posting a two-day all-around total of 117.225 to clinch the lone automatic spot on the five-woman team.
Three years removed from the Tokyo Olympics — where she pulled out of multiple finals to prioritize her safety and mental health — Biles heads back to the games looking perhaps as good as ever.
“Trusting the process and (my coaches), I knew I’d be back,” Biles said.
A trip to France has never really been in doubt since she returned from a two-year break last summer. All she’s done over the last 12 months is win a sixth world all-around title and her eighth and ninth national championship — both records — while further cementing her status as the best-ever in her sport.
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She’ll head to Paris as a prohibitive favorite to bookend the Olympic gold she won in 2016, but with things to work on, too.
Biles backpedaled after landing her Yurchenko double pike vault, a testament to both the vault’s difficulty and the immense power she generates during a skill few male gymnasts try and even fewer land as cleanly.
She hopped off the beam after failing to land her side aerial, though she wasn’t quite as frustrated as she was during a sloppy performance on Friday that left her uttering an expletive for all the world to see.
Biles finished with a flourish on floor exercise, her signature event. Though there was a small step out of bounds, there was also the unmatched world-class tumbling that recently drew a shoutout from pop star Taylor Swift, whose song “Ready For It” opens Biles’ routine.
She stepped off the podium to a standing ovation, then sat down atop the steps to take in the moment in what could be her last competitive round on American soil for quite a while.
Next stop, Paris.
The Americans will be loaded with experience as they try to return to the top of the podium after finishing second to Russia in 2020.
Reigning Olympic champion Sunisa Lee, 2020 Olympic floor exercise champion Jade Carey and 2020 Olympic silver medalist Jordan Chiles and Hezley Rivera all made the final roster for Team USA. Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong will travel to Paris as alternates.
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Yet the Biles that will step onto the floor at Bercy Arena for Olympic qualifying in four weeks isn’t the same one that left Tokyo.
She’s taken intentional steps to make sure her life is no longer defined by her gymnastics. Biles married Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens in the spring of 2023 and the two are building a house in the northern Houston suburbs they hope to move into shortly after Biles returns from Paris.
Biles heads to France as perhaps the face of the U.S. Olympic movement, though she’s well aware that more than a few of the millions that will tune in to watch next month will be checking to see if the demons that derailed her in Tokyo resurface.
And while there are still moments of anxiety — including at last year’s world championships — she has put safeguards in place to protect herself. She meets with a therapist weekly, even during competition season, something she didn’t do in preparation for the 2020 games.
Biles, Lee, Carey, Chiles and Rivera will be considered heavy favorites in France, particularly with defending Olympic champion Russia unable to compete as part of the fallout from the war in Ukraine.
The Americans will take their oldest women’s team ever to the games, as Biles’ unrivaled longevity — she hasn’t lost a meet she’s started and finished since 2013 — and the easing of rules around name, image and likeness rules at the NCAA level allowed 2020 Olympic veterans Carey, Chiles and Lee to continue to compete while cashing in on their newfound fame at the same time.
They have relied on that experience to get back to this moment during a sometimes harrowing meet that saw leading contenders Shilese Jones, Skye Blakely and Kayla DiCello exit with leg injuries that took them out of the mix weeks before opening ceremonies.
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