Ukraine hopes to strengthen the Ukrainian air defense system before winter and expects additional decisions to be made at the NATO summit in Ankara (Turkey), Minister of Foreign Affairs Andriy Sybiha has said.
As reported by an Interfax-Ukraine agency correspondent, he said this during a conversation with the media after the ceremony of raising the Crimean Tatar flag near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"There is implementation. President Zelenskyy agreed during the G7 summit in France with partners on further steps precisely regarding closing the Ukrainian sky, regarding strengthening the air shield. And here there are agreements on strengthening our capabilities before winter," Sybiha said, answering the question whether there is implementation of the agreements reached by the president at the G7 summit.
The minister added that he would not name figures and countries for security reasons, but assured that "these agreements have been reached."
"We expect additional decisions during the NATO summit in Ankara. Already these days several countries have announced additional assistance packages. And our partners also understand that another difficult winter is ahead of us, and one of the elements of passing this winter, one of the elements of strengthening our negotiating positions, is strengthening our air defense, but not only supplies," the minister emphasized.
Sybiha added that Ukraine is now raising the issue of scaling up capabilities to produce systems on the territory of Ukraine.
"(...) and the dialogue in this regard, the discussion, has moved into a more practical plane. This is also what I can tell you, politically and diplomatically. This is, of course, the scaling up of our national capabilities, our national programs, our system, which President Zelenskyy has repeatedly spoken about, the so-called air defense system of strategic importance with anti-ballistic properties," the Foreign Minister said.
He noted that in order for this to accelerate, certain elements are needed that the partners possess. According to Sybiha, these agreements have also been reached.
"And we understand both the time frames, to sum up, and the volumes, and, what is important, we hope that this will be delivered before winter," the minister emphasized.
Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that he received a positive signal from the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) and, in particular, Head of the White House Donald Trump regarding granting Ukraine licenses for the production of air defense systems. He said this during a joint press conference with President of Honduras Nasri Asfura.
Earlier, he called on the United States to provide Ukraine with licenses for the production of missiles for Patriot air defense systems.
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Heorhii Tykhy said at a briefing that Ukraine managed to find a number of additional air defense tools – both systems and interceptors. Financial resources are needed for them, and Ukraine is actively working on this. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs hopes that it will be possible to quickly deliver these tools to Ukraine.
Among other things, the Ukrainian side managed to find a number of interceptor missiles whose expiration date would expire "after a certain time."
