Ukraine wants new anti-aircraft batteries before winter

2023-10-04 17:31:00

Time is running out according to Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian president said Wednesday that his country was “ All » to receive new anti-aircraft defense systems from the West before winter arrives, and thus be able to face a possible massive Russian bombing campaign.

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« We are doing everything to provide Ukraine with more air defense systems before winter. And now we are waiting for certain decisions from our partners “, declared Volodymyr Zelensky in his evening video address published this Tuesday on social networks.

The kyiv leader also called for “ carry out as soon as possible » work necessary to ensure the protection and reconstruction of essential infrastructure in Ukrainian cities. In the winter of 2022, Russia carried out an intense campaign of massive bombing of Ukrainian infrastructure, particularly energy and electricity, plunging millions of people into the cold and darkness for hours or even days.

kyiv already equipped with Patriot batteries

The West has already given Ukraine anti-aircraft systems, notably the powerful American Patriot batteries. But these defenses do not always intercept all Russian drones and missiles that enter Ukrainian skies. In response, Ukraine simultaneously launched its own drone strikes and bombings, which have become almost daily, on targets on Russian territory.

Ukraine thus claimed responsibility on Wednesday for the destruction of a modern S-400 anti-aircraft system on Russian territory. A source from the Ukrainian security services, the SBU, assured AFP that kyiv had attacked this system with drones in the Russian border region of Belgorod, regularly targeted by the Ukrainians. “ The reason for the night explosions in the Belgorod region is known: the SBU attacked an S-400 anti-aircraft system », indicated this source on condition of anonymity.

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In September, the SBU had already claimed strikes on a first S-400 system in Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that it had intercepted 31 Ukrainian drones during the night above Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions, all bordering Ukraine, without mentioning possible injuries or damage.

(With AFP)