Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said Wednesday that the latest air defense support promised to Ukraine would “significantly strengthen” its defenses against a full-scale Russian invasion.
US President Joe Biden announced plans to supply new air defence weapons to Ukraine during his opening speech at the NATO summit on Tuesday.
The United States, Germany and Romania will each contribute their own Patriot batteries, and the Netherlands will work with other countries to enable the deployment of additional Patriot batteries, the countries said in a joint statement, while Italy said it would also provide its SAMP-T long-range air defense system.
In addition to long-range air defense systems, the United States and other countries are also providing Ukraine with “dozens” of short- and medium-range systems to intercept Russian drones and missiles. These systems include the NASAMS, HAWK, IRIS T-SLM, IRIS T-SLS and Gepard systems. Countries such as Canada, Norway, Spain and the UK will “play a key role” in providing systems to Ukraine, while “a number of other supporting nations” will provide interceptor missiles, the statement said.
“This will significantly strengthen our country’s defense capabilities,” Umerov wrote, expressing his gratitude to the numerous countries that provided the systems and interceptor missiles.
“I thank all the countries that participated in the Emergency Air Defense Initiative, which has raised over $1 billion to support Ukraine’s air defense,” he wrote.
