Brussels: Ukraine’s Nato-led allies have announced deliveries of advanced air defence weapons to Kyiv, after a spate of Russian missile strikes, media reported.
The weaponry promised by the UK, Canada, France and the Netherlands includes missiles and radars. The US earlier made a similar pledge. One high-tech system from Germany is already in Ukraine.
The UK will donate air defence missiles, as well as hundreds of aerial drones to support Ukraine’s information gathering and logistics capabilities. It will also provide 18 howitzer artillery guns in addition to the 64 already delivered, the BBC reported.
Speaking after the Brussels meeting on Wednesday, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said “we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that they [Ukrainians] have what’s required to be effective”.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris would supply air defence systems to Ukraine. In an interview to France 2 television, he did not specify which systems would be sent. But he did say their main function would be to protect the population from drones.
The Netherlands said it would deliver $14.5million worth of air defence missiles.
Canada pledged to provide more than $34 million worth of military aid, including satellite communications and drone cameras.The pledges come as Ukraine’s allies from 50 countries meet at Nato headquarters here in Belgium.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has for months been asking Ukraine’s allies to provide air defence systems to create an “air shield” for Ukraine.
Kyiv hailed the Nato summit as “historic”, even as Russian shelling hit its southern city of Mykolaiv on Thursday morning, officials said.
The city’s mayor Oleksandr Senkevich said the city was “massively shelled” at around 1 am local time.
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