No one should object to Ukraine being provided with Patriot systems - diplomat Volker

The former US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations believes that Russia does not really have the opportunity to respond to the transfer of Patriot systems to Kyiv. 

“The only thing they can do to escalate will be nuclear weapons and biological weapons which they know will be self-defeating. It will make the territory they are trying to conquer uninhabitable and will draw the direct immediate response from other countries. It seems they are not going to do that,” Kurt Volker said. 

However, the American diplomat believes that no one should have objections to Ukraine being provided with Patriot systems.

“I don't understand what objections anyone could have to Patriot systems being provided to Ukraine. They are defensive systems aimed at protecting civilian population and civilian infrastructure. By objecting, Russia is almost claiming that they had the right to attack Ukraine, which, of course, is something everyone by any legal means of international law, any sense of justice would object to,” he said. 

Kurt Volker is convinced that the existing legal mechanisms in international law are not enough to bring Putin and the Russian regime to justice.

“Because of the Russian veto at the United Nations it is going to be difficult to set up a new UN tribunal. It needs a special tribunal established and has to be done without Russia because Russia is actually the perpetrator here. It's very important what we are doing already, which is collect the data, collect the evidence interview people, take pictures, identify orders that were given, the chain of command put together all the legal cases that are necessary to be able to prove that war crimes were committed and prove the personal responsibility of Putin and other in Russian military leadership. That work goes now and will pay off later when some kind of new tribunal is established.”