President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, addressing the participants of the meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine’s Defense in Brussels, called for strengthening Ukraine’s air defense with ten additional Patriot systems.
Zelenskyy noted that he was addressing the meeting at Kryvyi Rih. He said that his native city lives in conditions of almost constant air alert due to attack drones or Russian missiles.
“The most dangerous threat is ballistic missiles. When there is a ballistic threat, people have only a few minutes to get to a shelter. Just imagine what it’s like to let your child go outside or just walk around the city, knowing that a missile can hit 5 minutes after launch. This is a constant danger,” he said, recalling that exactly one week ago, Russia launched a ballistic missile and killed 19 people in Kryvyi Rih, nine of whom were children.
According to Zelenskyy, a number of cities in Ukraine need additional protection from Russian missiles.
“You know that Ukraine has a shortage of air defense systems. You know that Patriot systems can effectively protect against ballistic threats. You also know that we are forced to move the systems we have around the country to provide at least temporary protection to different cities. And you know what happens when even one system fails—it means lost lives,” Zelenskyy said.
That is why he asked the Ramstein participants to focus primarily on air defense for Ukraine.
“We really need this. Ten Patriot systems—the free world has them. Now we need political decisions to make them work for peace. We need this result,” the President emphasized.
