© Denys Shmyhal/Telegram Due to the threat to the energy sector, these systems are urgently needed.
During the 30th meeting of the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine in the Ramstein format, Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal appealed to allies to urgently provide Kyiv with modern air defense systems.
“Ukraine needs at least 10 more Patriot installations, as well as missiles for the Patriot, Samp/T, NASAMS, IRIS-T and Hawk complexes. This is critically important, as Russia is preparing new attacks against our energy infrastructure,” he stressed, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
The Head of the Ministry of Defense separately emphasized the importance of long-range strike capabilities, which allow weakening Russian military production and destroying important enemy targets.
According to Shmyhal, despite talk of the possibility of peace talks and the search for security guarantees, the Kremlin rejects all proposals for a ceasefire and, on the contrary, continues to escalate. He gave examples of Russia's recent crimes: on Saturday, Ukrainian children and civilians were killed in an attack, and just a few hours before the meeting, the enemy struck the village of Yarova in the Donetsk region, hitting a group of pensioners who had come to collect their payments. Also on Monday, the occupiers carried out a massive attack with 49 drones, disabling the largest thermal power plant in the Kyiv region.
“Our response must be based on strength,” the minister emphasized.
The 30th Ramstein meeting began on Tuesday evening in a hybrid format. UK Defence Secretary John Healy, his German counterpart Boris Pistorius, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Denys Shmyhal were present in person in London. The remaining participants joined online.
As reported, Germany is in the process of supplying Ukraine with two Patriot systems. The first launchers have already been handed over to Kyiv, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said at the start of the Ramstein format meeting in London.
