Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder said on March 30 that 65 Ukrainian soldiers completed training on Patriot air defense systems at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and returned to Europe.

"They're integrating with other Ukrainian air defenders along with donated Patriot air defense equipment from the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands," Ryder said.

The U.S. announced it would supply Patriots to Ukraine at the end of December, ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Washington, D.C.

The Patriot system is the most advanced air defense weapon in its arsenal that Kyiv has been long pleading for.

Patriots, of which Germany also committed a battery in early January, aims to significantly improve the defense of Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure against regular Russian missile attacks.

How repurposed Russian air defense missiles expose holes in Ukraine’s sky

Russia’s missile strike on Jan. 14 caught Kyiv residents off-guard. After nearly a year of Moscow’s repeated attacks, something unusual happened: The explosions sounded before the air raid alert went off, which is rarely the case in what is believed to be the most protected city in Ukraine.

Kyiv IndependentStanislav Storozhenko