This was announced by the spokesman of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ilya Yevlash, at a briefing at the Ukraine-Ukrinform Media Center.
"Ukraine needs 25 Patriot air defense systems that could protect our cities from enemy attacks," Ilya Yevlash emphasized. According to him, defenders of Ukraine lack other air defense means that could protect the sky.
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Yevlash also clarified that the soldiers of the Armed Forces need man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) that are used by mobile fire groups.
According to him, now there is a need to develop a whole deeply echeloned air defense system that will include short-, medium- and long-range air defense equipment with the support of fighter aircraft.
"If we talk about small systems, then these are air defense systems mainly of the Ground Forces, such as Crotale, Avenger, Gepard, which have proven themselves quite effective. There was talk of the transfer of Skynex systems to our countries - these are so-called drone fighters. These are medium-range systems such as IRIS-T, NASAMS and other assets that will allow us to protect cities and destroy missiles and drones. And there are long-range Patriot and SAMP/T systems," the representative of Ukraine’s Air Force explained.
As the spokesman of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces stated, the enemy used almost all available missiles, including Kh-59 air-to-air missiles and Kh-47 Kinzhal ballistic missiles to strike Ukraine during the overnight attack.
"Last night, nine Tu-95MS strategic bombers took to the air. They were operating from Olenegorsk, the Olenya airfield. They launched Kh-101 and Kh-555 missiles in the Saratov region. The enemy fired 20 missiles, and the anti-aircraft missile units of the Ukrainian Air Force managed to down 16 of them. MiG-31Ks, carriers of Kh-47 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, took to the air. This is quite a powerful weapon. Unfortunately, we are not yet able to fully repel such enemy attacks, because for this we need the systems that have already proven their effectiveness many times and we have already used them. This is the Patriot air defense system. We need them today to fight against such combined attacks," Ilya Yevlash stated.
As Defense Express reported, on the night of April 11, 2024, the russian federation carried out a massive long-range attack on Ukraine again, using 82 different air- and ground-launched missiles as well as UAVs. According to the Air Force Command, the Defenders of Ukraine managed to shoot down 89% of threats, such as cruise missiles and drones. But in addition, russians used ballistic missiles against targets that are not covered by appropriate air defense systems due to their lack.
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