Ukrainian troops impress US trainers as they rapidly get up to speed on Patriot missile system

Fort Sill, Oklahoma CNN — The Ukrainian soldiers waved and honked their horns as they drove along a dirt road at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, moving their vehicles into position to defend against a hypothetical Russian missile barrage. The Ukrainians were manning a US Patriot air defense system, which 65 Ukrainian soldiers have been training on intensively for 10 weeks, instructed by US Army trainers at the base. “These guys smoke them.” Underscoring how experienced the Ukrainians already were in air defense when they arrived at Fort Sill, a senior US defense official said that the Ukrainians’ battalion commander had already conducted multiple intercepts of Russian missiles over the course of the war. “It’s been a true honor to meet these warriors,” a senior Fort Sill official said. “But based on what these Ukrainian members are going to do, it was very important that we were able to have that dialogue and incorporate some of those realistic threats.” “Once in Ukraine, the soldiers will integrate these new systems into their layered air defenses, for one reason and one reason only – to help shield Ukraine from Russia’s wanton attacks on civilian infrastructure in densely populated urban areas,” US Army spokesperson Martin O’Donnell said.