Situation at a glance: Zelenskyj complains about a lack of anti-aircraft defense

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky complains about the lack of anti-aircraft systems to protect against Russian attacks. “This week unfortunately brought Ukraine brutal Russian attacks on Kharkiv, Donetsk, Sumy, Odessa and Zaporizhia,” Zelensky said in his evening video address. There are drone and missile attacks almost every day. “And at every meeting, at every negotiation with partners who have appropriate air defense systems, the focus is always on providing Ukraine with additional protection from Russian terror.”

Zelensky criticized the partners’ willingness to provide Ukraine with additional air defense systems. “Here in Europe, on the continent, there are enough other air defense systems that could provide really reliable protection for Ukraine,” he said. “And you can’t understand that if air defense systems just sit there, even though each system could save hundreds or even thousands of lives.”

Several people have been killed and injured in Russian drone and missile attacks against Ukrainian cities in recent days. Although the Ukrainian air defense intercepted a large proportion of the drones and missiles, the number of missiles arriving from different directions overloaded the defense options. On Saturday evening, Russia launched new swarms of drones to as yet unknown targets in Ukraine.

Kyiv wants to prepare meetings between Zelensky and Trump

Ukraine says it wants to begin preparations for a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President-elect Donald Trump. Foreign Minister Andrij Sybiha said this at a press conference with EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell in Kiev. However, Sybiha did not give any details – neither about a time frame nor about the location of a possible meeting. “The dialogue between Trump and Zelensky has already been established,” he said, referring to the two politicians’ most recent telephone conversation a few days ago. “We are open to further cooperation.”

Trump and Zelensky last met in New York at the end of September on the sidelines of the Ukrainian president’s trip to the United States. Zelensky Trump presented the Ukrainian peace plan, which at its core envisages “peace through strength,” recalled Sybiha. The central points of this plan include further Western arms deliveries to Kiev as well as a timely invitation to join NATO. Trump’s election victory has global consequences, emphasized Sybiha. Ukraine hopes this will give it an opportunity to accelerate the path to a just peace.

After Trump moves into the White House on January 20, Kiev has to fear that US military support could drastically decrease or even be stopped. Since the start of the war in February 2022, the USA, with its arms deliveries and financial aid to Ukraine, has been its most important ally in the fight against the Russian invasion.

Report: US government tries to quickly deliver weapons to Kyiv

Meanwhile, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the incumbent US administration of President Joe Biden tried to send additional military support worth billions to Ukraine before the change in the White House in January. Biden wants to give Ukraine a stronger negotiating position and strengthen the defense lines in the east of the country. Among other things, Kiev will receive 500 missiles for the Patriot and Nasams air defense systems in the next few weeks. The Ukrainian Armed Forces, in turn, requested additional missiles for the Atacms artillery system, which have a range of up to 250 kilometers.

In an interview with the “WSJ”, US military officials pointed out that this support for Kiev would noticeably empty its own arsenals. The US government is therefore asking its allies to deliver weapons from their warehouses to Ukraine.

Zelensky wants to expand drone production

Zelensky announced the expansion of drone production in the domestic defense industry. “Drones of different types, for different tasks, that not only help the front line, but also hit Russia at ever greater depths. We will expand that,” he said.

Army chief Olexander Syrskyj had previously referred to the successes of the Ukrainian drone force. “In October, more than 52,000 enemy targets were destroyed and damaged by drone combat operations,” Syrskyj wrote on Facebook. Among other things, 129 artillery systems of the Russian armed forces and 221 radio systems were destroyed, and around 4,000 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded. Syrskyj’s statements could not be independently verified.

“The technology of unmanned systems is developing rapidly, and we must stay one step ahead of the enemy,” Syrskyj concluded. Some time ago, the Ukrainian military leadership made the development and construction of all types of drones a top priority. Among other things, the drone force was created as a separate branch of arms. According to official information, the Ukrainian defense industry had already built and delivered over a million drones by mid-September.