Ukraine’s Call for Air Defense Systems Receives Positive Response From Allies, Says Rutte

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated that Ukraine’s request for a significant supply of air defense systems to protect nuclear and other critical infrastructure was positively received by NATO partners.

This was reported by UNITED24 Media correspondent, citing Rutte’s statement during a briefing with journalists in Brussels.

“Over the last 2.5 years, all the first 1,000 days of this awful, onslaught of aggression we have been able to provide many air defense systems to Ukraine,” Rutte said.

“As you know, in the world, we do not have a sort of overflowing supply of air defense systems, that means that you always make sure that you prioritize, but it was a clear agreement last night that to help Ukraine, particularly with its infrastructure has to be a priority. And I’m confident that Allies will follow up in the coming days and weeks and make sure that whatever they can supply to Ukraine will be supplied.“   

On November 3, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stressed Ukraine’s urgent need for additional air defense systems to protect civilians and infrastructure from Russia’s targeted strikes.

“And we are speaking about the urgent supply of at least 20 additional system types: HAWK, NASAMS or IRIS-T and it will help us to avoid blackouts," he said.

Ukraine is already enduring prolonged power outages caused by Russia’s massive attacks on the energy infrastructure. On November 28, nearly 1.5 million Ukrainians were left without electricity.