President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine’s experience and resources should become part of a European air shield to protect borders from threats originating in Russia and Belarus.

Source: Zelenskyy at a briefing with Finnish President Alexander Stubb in Kyiv, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Zelenskyy said that the 10 September incident with Russian drones over Poland showed that creating an air shield on Europe’s eastern borders is an increasingly urgent necessity and must be a coordinated system with multi-purpose air-defence capabilities.

Quote: "This is a multi-system where classic air defence systems work, mobile fire groups work, interceptor drones work (…), helicopters, aircraft. Only by having a multi-system can you fight a large-scale drone attack. This is my answer to whether our consultations are needed by our Polish friends. I believe that no one else has a system like ours – only the Russians do.

What we proposed two years ago – shooting down drones over our territory with aircraft – will no longer work. It is an element. It will strengthen the shield over western Ukraine and over Poland, but it is an element. General coordination is needed, and preferably Ukraine should coordinate. It can be done together with the Republic of Poland. We are open to this."

Background:

Zelenskyy also proposed joint financing and production projects for interceptor drones to Ukraine’s partners.Following the incursion of Russian drones into Polish airspace, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha urged Western countries to approve the use of neighbouring nations’ air defence systems to intercept aerial threats while still over Ukraine.This issue was the subject of talks between Sybiha and his Polish counterpart Radosław Sikorski, but Poland stressed that no decisions on this matter had been made.

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