Shafaqna Pakistan: Ukraine is seeking to secure around 1,000 missiles for US-designed Patriot air-defence systems with support from its allies and financing through a European Union loan, Ukrainian Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Khmara said most of the missiles would not be delivered until the coming years, while urging Western partners to provide more immediate air-defence assistance.
In comments later released by the Defence Ministry, Khmara said Ukraine had asked Western allies to supply additional air-defence missiles from their existing stocks in exchange for upgrades to missile capabilities under contracts agreed with Kyiv.
He added that Ukraine was also facing a $27 billion funding shortfall for drone supplies.
The ministry’s summary of the meeting said Khmara had presented a plan for Ukraine’s conduct of the war that was already being implemented along with a list of what Kyiv considered to be the biggest threats posed by Moscow.
Khmara said Russia was making no strategic gains along the 1,200-km (750-mile) front line, but Moscow was making up for its battlefield failures with “terror against Ukrainians”.
Russia resumed its near-constant drone and missile attacks on Kyiv on Tuesday after a brief halt for the visit of U.S. peace negotiators. Officials said five people were killed in the capital along with others in various regions.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told the meeting that Ukraine’s allies had no choice but to boost their support to enable Kyiv “to seize the opportunities it is creating now across all fronts and to defend itself in the skies”.
Source: Dunya News
