It's official: Ukraine gets first Patriot air defence systems

Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, officially confirmed on Wednesday that Kyiv had received its first Patriot air defence systems.

"Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure because Patriot air defence systems have arrived in Ukraine," Mr Reznikov wrote on Twitter.

He added that Ukraine’s air defenders had mastered them as fast as they could, and "our partners have kept their word."

Patriot air defence systems, developed by US defence conglomerate Raytheon Technologies, were first deployed by the American army in the mid-1980s. They are now used in a dozen countries, including the United States itself, Israel, Germany, and Spain.

Patriot systems are designed to cover an area of around 68 kilometres, according to the German military. Its radar can track up to 50 targets and engage five of them at once, DW reported.