Presence of the Minister of National Defense Nikos Panagiotopoulos next to the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou during her visit to Kyiv it was mostly symbolic and had as its main purpose the need to demonstrate Greece’s firm commitment to supporting Ukraine in the struggle it is waging. Now new requests have come in from Kyiv, this time for air defense capabilities, which Athens is currently not considering. The Ukrainian proposal also includes support for Ukrainian systems of Russian origin.

In particular, at the first stage there was a need for anti-tank weapons, at the second, with regard to withdrawal operations, they needed cars and tanks, as well as artillery ammunition, while at the present turn of the war, when the Russians launched air attacks, there was a need in air defense.

What he offers in return – Athens remains negative.

At present, Athens has a negative attitude to the attacks that were carried out by the Ukrainian side to provide air defense systems in different directions. On the one hand, because of the criticality that air defense systems have for the defense of Greece, on the other hand, because such a case will be fraught with additional political risks. However, a proposal was made from the Ukrainian side, including assistance from the Kyiv side in maintaining and maintaining Russian-made air defense systems, such as TOR-M1 and OSA-AK/AKM, scattered throughout the territory. , but also the S-300 (PMU1), which are in service with the Air Force. The common problem for all three specific systems is that they are approaching the time limit of their viability and, due to sanctions in Russia, they will not be able to be certified and maintained, so they risk falling into disuse. The experience of the Marder circular exchange to replace the obsolete BMP-1 had a positive effect on the capabilities of the Armed Forces, but at the moment such a move at the air defense level should be accompanied by guarantees mainly from the United States.

The visit of Mr. Panayotopoulos to Ukraine took place in connection with the delivery of the first BMP-1 armored fighting vehicles, which belonged to the Greek army and were exchanged for German vehicles of the Marder type. The first BMP-1s are already in Ukraine, as are the Marders in Greece.

However, the question of further support for Ukrainian forces remains open as the war continues. As already known, Greece supplies Ukrainian forces with 155-mm rockets. Recent communications between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken included, among other things, Washington’s firm call to all US NATO allies to provide more ammunition for Ukrainian forces.