Ukraine offers Gulf states air defence swap
AFP | Kyiv
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday offered US allies in the Middle East a swap of some of their air defence missiles in exchange for Kyiv’s vaunted drone interceptors, to better protect them from Iranian drone attacks.
Russia has been using Iranian-designed Shahed drones throughout its four-year invasion of Ukraine, and Kyiv has developed a range of cheap and effective drone interceptors -- aerial craft designed to hit incoming attack drones mid-air -- that it says are world-leading.
At the same time, Ukraine is struggling with a shortage of PAC-3 air defence missiles -- expensive ammunition fired at incoming Russian missiles to defend Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure.
“The number one issue is how to protect their skies. We ourselves live with this question,” Zelensky said.
“Let’s speak about weapons that we’re short of: PAC-3 missiles -- if they give them to us, we will give them interceptors,” he added. PAC-3 missiles, he said, do not work to protect against a barrage of hundreds of Shahed drones.
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