After Russian Missile Strikes, NATO Will Now Focus On Supplying Air Defence Equipment To Ukraine

NATO’s defence ministers will be meeting in Brussels this week. On agenda is delivering air defence systems to Ukraine.

Sending air defence systems to Ukraine is a priority post the recent Russian missile attacks on Kiev and other cities, US ambassador to NATO said.

Russia relied on air-launched cruise missiles to target critical infrastructure across Ukraine. Critical infrastructure includes electricity grids, key supply hubs and arms depots.

Russia is also using Iran’s Shahed drones to target Ukrainian troops and key infrastructure.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has claimed that Russia is purchasing 2,400 Shahed drones from Iran.

Amongst all the equipments that need to be delivered to Ukraine, air defence systems are now at the top of the list.

However, NATO faces a challenge in supplying air defence equipment to Ukraine.

Western nations don’t have sufficient number of air defence systems. Especially for immediate delivery, which is crucial to defend Ukrainian infrastructure from Russian strikes.

Ukraine has reportedly requested delivery of America’s Patriot missile defence system. Washington DC apparently refused the request because US doesn’t have sufficient Patriot missile defence systems.

Meanwhile, talks are ongoing for the supply of US Counter-Rocket, Artillery, Mortar systems to Ukraine - a substitute for the Patriot missile defence system. Another possible substitute is Germany’s InfraRed Imaging System Tail, which is a short to medium-range homing air-to-air missile.

During a briefing yesterday, John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, told reporters that the majority of strikes on Ukraine were carried out by Russian bombers flying in the Russian airspace.

The bombers launched cruise missiles from the Russian airspace because Russia hasn’t been able to attain air superiority in Ukraine. Apparently, the Russians feared that if their bombers entered the Ukrainian airspace, some of them might be taken down.

“There is no silver bullet weapon system to counter the threat,” Kirby said, whilst addressing the reporters.

“We and the Ukrainians are now paying the cost of the last two decades of inattention to air defence and cruise missile defence.", said CSIS’ Tom Karako. Karako is a senior fellow at CSIS, which is an American think-tank.

We’ve taken air superiority for granted for way too long and this is what it looks like when you come up against an enemy with lots of air and missile power. Lo and behold air defence is in very high demand”, he added.

Even at the G7 virtual meeting yesterday, Zelenskyy urged the G7 leaders to provide air-defence systems to Ukraine urgently.