Ukraine admits cannot defend against Iranian ballistic missiles

“Russia is still willing to receive UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and Fateh and Zolfaghar missiles from Iran. Those are ballistic missiles. We do not have means to defeat them,” Yurii Ihnat, spokesperson for the Air Force Command, said Monday on Ukrainian television.

“Russia has Kinzhal-type missiles that strike at ballistic trajectory,” Ihnat continued, adding, “They have Kh-22 missiles that strike at ballistic trajectory, and they have S-300 and S-400 rockets that strike at ballistic trajectory. Those are challenges and threats we are facing at the moment.”

Ihnat stated that in order to “defeat ballistic threats”, Ukraine needed air defense systems like the latest-generation American Patriot PAC-3, and the French-made SAMP/T (Sol-Air Moyenne Portée/Terrestre)

Moscow and Tehran have repeatedly denied allegations that Russia was receiving Iranian drones and using them in Ukraine. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov called such rumors as fake news and stressed that the Russian army was using drones of domestic manufacture. In early November, the Iranian foreign ministry has also announced that Tehran had supplied a small batch of drones to Moscow several months before the start of the military operation in Ukraine.