The United States' plans to send the Patriot Missile System to Ukraine could offer the capital city of Kyiv some "great protection" against Russia's bombs, but there are limitations with what it can do, retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt said on Newsmax Thursday.
"People should not look at this as Oh, this is a game changer in the war," Holt, a former U.S. deputy military representative to NATO, told Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "It's going to offer Kyiv some great protection if that's how they use it, but they're going to have to get trained up to use it. It's a very complex system."
Still, in terms of weapons of mass destruction, including the threats of Russia using nuclear devices against Kyiv, "it could be quite effective in defeating those threats," Holt said.
The system won't be as effective at protecting Ukraine's cities from weapons such as the Iranian-made "kamikaze" drones, he added.
Meanwhile, when asked if NATO countries like Finland, which shares a 1,000-mile-long border with Russia, may request the Patriot system, considering the non-NATO country of Ukraine has been approved, Holt commented that it's "actually just great news."
"We're always about interoperability in NATO," he said. "We're all working together on similar systems. It's very helpful, but to your other point, there are great systems across Europe that are not American systems that are very effective.
"Will they be brought to bear in Ukraine? I'm not quite certain that the European countries are going to have the back stocks to make that available."
Holt also commented on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who earlier this week canceled his annual news conference for the first time in 10 years, sparking speculation that he is in failing health.
"He's under pressure in his inner circle," said Holt. "The other thing he's not doing, he's not playing hockey because a hockey player could be a pretty good target running around an ice rink."
Further, there will be a "lot of things happening on the battlefield this week and next," said Holt, adding that "the inner circle is under a tremendous amount of pressure as this war grinds on."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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