Biden promises Zelensky with advanced air defense systems to defend itself after Russian missile attacks
The US President Joe Biden on Monday pledged to provide Ukraine with advanced air defense systems after Russian missile attacks on Kyiv and several other cities, the White House said.
The US presidency said in a statement that during a telephone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, Biden pledged “to continue to provide Ukraine with the necessary support for its self-defense, including advanced air defense systems”.
The statement added that the US president offered his condolences to his Ukrainian counterpart for the victims who fell in these insensitive attacks.
The US President also stressed, according to the White House statement, his “continued commitment with allies and partners to continue to impose costs on Russia and hold it accountable for its war crimes and atrocities”.
For his part, the Ukrainian president said in a tweet on Twitter that he had a “fruitful conversation” with Biden.
“Air defense is currently the first priority of our defense cooperation,” Zelensky stressed.
As expected, the missile barrage that rained down on Ukraine on Monday revived the debate about strengthening Western military assistance to Kiev in the field of air defense.
On Monday night, Zelensky said that “out of 84 Russian missiles fired at Ukraine, 43 were intercepted, and out of 24 Russian drones, 13 were intercepted”.
The United States has previously pledged to supply Ukraine with eight advanced NASAMS surface-to-air missile batteries, two of which will be delivered to Ukrainian forces in the coming weeks or months, and the other six as part of a longer-term aid package.
These missile systems are manufactured by the American company Raytheon and the Norwegian company Konsberg.
For its part, Germany pledged to supply Ukraine within days the Iris-T defense system, which provides protection within a range of 20 km in height and 40 km in width.
For his part, the Ukrainian president stressed his country’s will to resist, after the intense Russian missile attacks on several major cities in the country.
“Ukraine cannot be intimidated,” Zelensky said in his evening video address in Kyiv on Monday… We united more instead”.
The attacks left 14 people dead and 97 wounded across the country, according to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry on Monday evening.
In the video, Zelensky put the death toll at 12 and more than 80 wounded.
Speaking from a damaged intersection near Kyiv University rather than his well-secured presidential office as is usually the case, Zelensky said there were only civilian targets in and around a park in front of the university and no military facilities that Russia said it had struck.
Excavators, trucks and other debris removal equipment can be seen in the background.
Rockets had fallen there in the morning.
“The occupiers cannot confront us on the battlefield and that is why they resort to this terrorism,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky added, “Municipal services are working in many towns to repair the cut-off electricity and water supplies… It will take a few more hours”.
The Ukrainian president called for “reasonable consumption of electricity” as much as possible”.
The more Ukrainians provide electricity, the more stable the grid”, Zelensky added.
