In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine needs a large number of Western air defense systems, including advanced American Patriot systems, to protect the skies over the country and to ensure the success of the upcoming counteroffensive.
"Any counteroffensive without control in the sky is very dangerous. Imagine a soldier who realizes that he has no roof. And he does not understand why neighboring countries have it," Zelensky said.
According to him, two Patriot batteries have been delivered to Ukraine so far, and five batteries have been promised in total.
"Ukraine needs 50 Patriot batteries. This is currently the only system that can "turn off" some types of Russian missiles," Zelensky said.
Earlier, the Ukrainian leader had already drawn attention to the fact that Ukraine was not being provided not only with a sufficient number of Patriot systems, but also with missiles for them, as it turned out that the country was in the queue for supplies.
According to Zelensky, the "European coalition" to provide Ukraine with these systems is only in the early stages of formation.
Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion on February 24 last year, Ukraine has been constantly asking its Western partners to help it "close the sky" to protect itself from endless missile and air strikes.
However, according to the Ukrainian military, as well as independent experts, the backbone of Ukraine's air defense system continues to be Soviet equipment, including S-300 systems and Buk systems.
Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has stated that the stockpile of missiles for the system is close to being exhausted and there are no sources of replenishment, so the country desperately needs Western systems.