Task from president is to build own antiballistic air defense system together with EU partners, this is key issue for us now - Fedorov

Ballistic missiles remain the greatest threat to Ukraine at present, so the president has set the task of building effective cooperation with EU partners and creating an own antiballistic system, Minister of Defense Mykhailo Fedorov has said.

"Thanks to your (Swedish) support along with our other partners, we have created a good air defense system. If we talk about cruise missiles: over the last six or seven attacks, we have demonstrated a high level of interception," Fedorov said at a joint press conference with Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson in Stockholm on May 7.

The minister specified that thanks to NASAMS, IRIS-T, and F-16s, Ukrainian air defense has intercepted many Russian cruise missiles; however, countering ballistic attacks remains the greatest challenge.

"The greatest threat to us is ballistic missiles. And the task from our president is to build this cooperation among all partners in the EU and invent our own missile defense system. And this is the key issue for us now," he emphasized.

As reported, in April of this year, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine must create an antiballistic air defense system together with European countries within a year.

"We are talking with several states, working in this direction. We are talking to our companies, setting tasks, but we need to create our own antiballistic system in a year," he said in an interview with the telethon.

On May 1, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha announced additional meetings with partners regarding the development of the idea proposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to create a joint antiballistic air defense system with Europe.

"Therefore, additional meetings on this track should probably be expected. And President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy will announce the achieved result at the appropriate time," Sybiha said.