Kyiv –
Ukraine is indeed making impressive progress in use drone made to fight Russian troops. But for Ukraine, drones alone cannot replace the weapons they really need.
“We produce a lot of drones, but drones are not an alternative to any weapons,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during an interview in the city of Kharkiv.
“We are proving ourselves with drones, and I think the fact that we have increased production helps us a lot. But this is not a replacement for air defense, this is not a replacement for long-range weapons, missiles, long-range artillery,” he stressed, quoted detikINET from Insider.
Drones of all shapes and sizes have become decisive in the war in Ukraine, used to attack on land, in the sky and at sea. Both Moscow and Kyiv are trying to increase domestic drone production. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, said Kyiv plans to make a million more drones this year.
Ukraine’s domestic drone program has in recent months provided notable successes. For example, successfully destroying a Russian Black Sea Fleet warship. Thousands of drones drop grenades or explosives in one-way attacks that have destroyed expensive armored vehicles such as tanks.
Even so, the drone program in Kyiv cannot replace the weapons that are really needed. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly identified an air defense system as one of the most pressing needs to protect frontline troops and civilians in Ukrainian cities from Russian aerial bombardment.
Speaking at NATO headquarters in Brussels last week, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged western countries to provide new air defences. He called the US-made MIM-104 Patriot the best because of its effectiveness in dropping ballistic missiles.
“Patriots should now be deployed in Ukraine, so that in the future they don’t have to be deployed on at least the entire eastern side of NATO,” Zelenskyy said. Additional air defense is needed around Kharkiv, which has been the victim of relentless Russian attacks in recent weeks.
However, US aid to Ukraine remains unclear as Republican lawmakers maintain a blockade on USD 60 billion in military aid. For Zelenskyy, Western support is very important because he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will not stop the onslaught until Ukrainian cities are destroyed.
“If we do not have appropriate air defense systems and long-range weapons, he will destroy our country. This is what this war will look like, total destruction, destruction of border areas, cities, villages and so on. He will destroy everything,” the Ukrainian leader said That.
Watch the video “Putin Says the Presence of Western Troops in Ukraine Has Triggered the Third World War”
(fyk/fyk)
2024-04-10 08:15:09
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