Ukraine Needs More Aid as Russia Strikes with Missiles: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the Group of Seven leaders on Tuesday to provide more military aid and security assistance and to strengthen sanctions against Russia. The Ukrainian president made the comments in a virtual address at an emergency meeting of the G-7 leaders.
Ukraine Pushes For More G7 Weapons
Zelenskyy’s call for increased support for his government and military comes after Russia unleashed a barrage of missile and drone strikes on major urban population centers across Ukraine early on Monday morning, killing dozens and destroying huge numbers of residential buildings, energy company office buildings, and other critical infrastructure.
“When Russia attacks the energy sector and energy stability of our countries, we must block its energy sector with sanctions, break the stability of Russian revenues from oil and gas trade,” Zelenskyy told the emergency meeting adding that a “tough price cap” on Russian exports of oil and gas should also be implemented to hurt Russia’s revenue stream from fuel exports.
In response, the G-7 issued a statement promising to “impose economic costs” on Russia and to “provide financial, humanitarian, military, diplomatic and legal support” to Ukraine.
What Ukraine Wants
In the address, Zelenskyy once again asked for more air defense systems to be provided by Western allies – the kinds of systems that are capable of tracking and intercepting ballistic missiles in the air before they reach their intended targets. Zelenskyy insisted that, should Ukraine receive a sufficient number of these systems, Russia’s missile strike campaigns will cease to be effective.
Patriot Missile. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
There is precedent for this, too. Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system achieved a 97% success rate this year. Although, that tremendous level of success has taken years to achieve, reaching 80% success in Operation Protective Edge in 2014, up from 75% in Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012.
U.S. Confirms New Delivery Of NASAMS Air Defense Systems
John Kirby, the National Security Council’s Coordinator for Strategic Communications, announced on Tuesday that the United States will expedite the shipping of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) to Ukraine.
In a press briefing, Kirby said that the decision to expedite the shipment of new weapons systems was made in response to Putin’s drone and missile barrage in recent days.
“We think that we’re on track to get those first two over there in the very near future,” Kirby said. “We are certainly interested in expediting the delivery of NASAMS to Ukraine as soon as we can.”
NASAMS launch. Image Credit: Industry Handout.
The White House has approved eight NASAMS to be sent to Ukraine so far.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
