Behind the scenes, Ukrainian government officials are still seeking Patriot air defense systems and F-16 fighter jets in their battle against Russian troops and are brokering long-term funding deals to achieve their goals, according to a report in Politico on Friday. Although Ukraine has openly sought high-powered weapons from the US since the start of hostilities in February, the switch from a public campaign to a private one came as advisers worried that requests for high-tech weapons were distracting Kiev. more immediate needs on the battlefield and concerns that the questions were confusing their tightly scripted message,” the magazine said. As Russian troops left parts of eastern Ukraine last week, including key Russian supply hubs, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior ministry, joked about the weapons caches they left behind. Ukrainian government officials are seeking US Patriot air defense systems to fight against Russian troops. NurPhoto via Getty Images Ukraine has switched to a private campaign as advisers worry the demands would be a “distraction from Kiev’s more immediate needs and concerns on the battlefield…” dpa/picture alliance via Getty I Adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry joked about the caches of weapons left behind by Russian troops in eastern Ukraine. AFP via Getty Images “Today our military received the first lend-lease supplies from Russia at Izyum (this is a joke, of course. I’ll be marking my jokes for a while now),” he wrote. “The Russian soldiers fled so quickly that they left half their equipment behind.”
