Russia continues to shell the territory of Ukraine with missiles, causing significant damage to the country. Russian ballistic missiles are especially dangerous, against which only a single missile defense system (MDS) is capable of combating.
According to Yuriy Ignat, spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force Command, only Patriot air defense systems can currently shoot down ballistic missiles. Although there is some hope that SAMP/T systems will be able to perform this function when Ukraine receives them in sufficient quantities.
In addition, all types of missiles can be affected by electronic warfare (EW) systems that can deflect missiles from their intended path. However, this can lead to missiles landing in other locations, including civilian targets.
Ukraine is being assisted by national and international partners in providing missile defense. However, the delivery of air defense systems has slowed down for a number of reasons, including the global shortage of such assets and the priority of each state to maintain its own security.
Ukraine currently uses a variety of air defense systems, including both outdated 1970s-era SAMs and modern ones. However, to effectively protect the country, it needs significantly more missile defense systems, namely several dozen Patriot batteries.
It should be noted that the lack of proper protection could pose a serious threat to Ukraine in the context of the ongoing conflict with Russia.
