In a longer interview with TASS, Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov said that Russia had attempted to discuss with American officials the implications of the Patriot missile system being deployed to Ukraine. Antonov referenced that up to 90 troops will be needed to service the missile battery, and they won’t be Ukrainians, at least not to start. “Will it be Americans,” Antonov asked, “or, perhaps, citizens of other NATO countries?”
Then Antonov admitted that Russia had tried to initiate a discussion regarding this extreme danger with his American counterparts. “It would be nice to get a straightforward answer. Just the other day, we tried to get the White House and the Department of State to understand that all U.S. systems, primarily the Patriot ones, would become legitimate targets for our military.”
