since start Russian military operations In Ukraine, the issue of armament was the biggest concern of Ukrainian politicians, especially President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose speeches were not devoid of any speech except that he demanded that the West provide arms to its army to confront the Russians.
With the encouragement of the United States, Slovakia recently donated a large and effective Russian-made S-300 long-range air defense missile system that dates back to the era of the Soviet Union, in the hope of challenging Russia in the air, especially since the issue of imposing an air embargo is off the table at the present time.
hidden infiltration
Mikolas Ksuma, the mayor of Dobra, a border village in eastern Slovakia, revealed that he had to stop for a full half an hour to allow a train loaded with weapons that had surreptitiously slipped into Ukraine on his way home.
He explained that, during the past month, the village had become a major artery through which weapons and ammunition were transported to Ukraine by rail, according to the New York Times.
The train carried an air defense system consisting of 48 surface-to-air missiles, four launchers and radars to direct the missiles to their targets.
Also, he noted, he transported by truck and trains to Dobra, where the state-controlled railway yard has Soviet gauge tracks, wider than the standard in Europe, meaning that trains can run to and from Ukraine, which also had Soviet tracks.
secret shipment
Jaroslav Nad, Slovakia’s defense minister and an ardent supporter of Ukraine, said that before the Russian operation his country could not have thought of sending large quantities of basic weapons across its eastern border for free, no matter how old but still powerful.
He added that the shipment was kept secret for security reasons, noting that the opposition in his country was working against the interests of the country as well as against the interests of Ukraine, as he put it.
S-300 (Archyde.com)
qualitative weapon
Pavel Mako, a retired Slovak general who served with NATO in Afghanistan and Germany, said the S-300 system delivered to Ukraine dates back to the 1980s, when Slovakia was a member of the Warsaw Pact as part of Czechoslovakia, and was inferior to the US system. Made by Patriot.
But he added that the Ukrainians know how to use it and will be able to reduce Russia’s control over the skies.
S-300 (AFP)
In turn, Robert Fico, the former Slovak Prime Minister, explained that the government made efforts to keep the delivery of the S-300 battery secret until it arrived safely in Ukraine, at which point he posted a video on his Facebook page last Thursday, which showed a train carrying the dismantled air defense system on its way to Ukraine. Ukraine.
Other NATO members are already sending bigger and better weapons to Ukraine, including T-72 tanks and short-range air defense systems from the Czech Republic.
The biggest weapon ever sent
The S-300 system from Slovakia is the largest weapon sent by a NATO country to date, having previously been deployed in Nitra, a city east of Bratislava at the other end of the country.
Russia’s S-300 defense system (Archyde.com)
It is noteworthy that Russia has repeatedly threatened to target arms shipments flowing into Ukraine from Western countries, warning two days before trying to impede its current military operation.
The Russian threat, which was described as the last, came at a time when it was reported that Washington was planning to support the Kyiv government with huge quantities of advanced weapons and military equipment.