US Sending Soviet Anti-Air Defense Systems To Ukraine That Were “Secretly Acquired”

Update(12:15ET): Greater escalation is in the air as two nuclear-armed superpowers continue stumbling toward a hugely alarming WWIII scenario as the Russian invasion of Ukraine reaches almost a full month. The Wall Street Journal on Monday has cited US defense officials who say Washington is covertly sending Soviet-made air defense equipment to Ukraine to help repel Russian air power. It seems this is the Biden administration’s ‘alternative’ to directly imposing a no-fly zone, yet it’s still a step in that direction. But given the fact that these systems might go all the way back to the 1960’s or 70’s – and perhaps more appropriately belong in a museum in some midwest town – it could be more of a symbolic step to appease the hawks without really doing anything too severely escalatory.

“The U.S. is sending some of the Soviet-made air defense equipment it secretly acquired decades ago to bolster the Ukrainian military as it seeks to fend off Russian air and missile attacks, U.S. officials said,” WSJ writes. “The systems, which one U.S. official said include the SA-8, are decades old and were obtained by the U.S. so it could examine the technology used by the Russian military and which Moscow has exported around the world.”