Zelensky emphasized that Ukraine has become quite strong over the years of the war, but its air defense is not capable of repelling all Russian attacks.
“Today we cannot fight with our air defense systems against, for example, ballistic missiles, which our energy sector cannot withstand. It is very difficult for us. This requires pressure. I believe that a package of appropriate weapons is such pressure,” Zelensky noted.
According to the Ukrainian president, Ukraine had thematic conversations with the United States about this even before Trump's presidency.
“In order to carry out some operations, a combination of factors is necessary, the use of drones and other types of weapons together. And we are missing something. Our own tools appear, but it’s time. And time is not on the side of people,” Zelensky explained.
Context
The Financial Times wrote on October 2 that the occupying country Russia has modernized the Iskander-M and Kinzhal missiles, which are now better able to evade Ukrainian air defense systems. According to the newspaper, the missiles perform sharp maneuvers or dives in the final part of the trajectory, which complicates the work of the Ukrainian Patriot air defense systems.
In August, Ukrainian air defense managed to shoot down 37% of Russian ballistic missiles, and in September – only 6%, FT noted.
On October 16, the Russian Federation launched the largest number of Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles into Ukraine since the beginning of the year, none of which were shot down, The Insider noted.
