President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy is convinced that Russian ballistic missiles will be able to strike at a distance of up to 5000 km. He stated this in an interview with the French television channel BFMTV, reports UNN.
He noted that Russia already has powerful ballistic missiles.
"It is true that Russia has very powerful ballistic missiles and that they have or will soon have the ability to launch them up to 5,000 kilometers. It is only a matter of time," said Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He added that Russia already has missiles that can reach any European city.
"That is why Europe needs its own missile defense system. It should be cheaper than Patriot missiles and should be similar," Zelenskyy added.
According to him, it is important to focus on defense, which is why Ukraine initiated the creation of the FREYJA anti-ballistic system together with European partners. This system is designed to protect not only Ukraine but also to strengthen the existing air defense capabilities of partners, which are insufficient.
Reminder
On July 13 in Paris, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the leaders of 9 other European countries signed a declaration on the creation of the Anti-Ballistic Coalition. The coalition was joined by the leaders of Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
The development of FREYJA from Ukraine will involve the Ukrainian defense company Fire Point, which developed the FP-7.x interceptor missile. European partners will be represented by: Thales, HENSOLDT, Diehl Defence, Saab, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, Weibel, Leonardo, MBDA, Eurosam, Safran, and Destinus.
The pan-European anti-ballistic shield FREYJA was immediately conceived as one that would unite European partners. As President Zelenskyy noted, Ukraine is capable of creating such a system independently, but it would take years, because in addition to the missile, FREYJA requires the integration of a whole range of components that European partners can provide. In return, Ukraine will provide its ballistic interceptor missile, which is cheaper than Western counterparts.
The Ukrainian FP-7.x missile, as previously reported by the co-founder and chief designer of Fire Point, has already passed tests and now needs to be integrated with other system components.
As explained by the co-founder and chief designer of Fire Point, Denys Shtilerman, the key difference of the FREYJA project is its independence from external control. According to him, modern Western air defense systems often operate in a closed architecture format, where the supplier country or manufacturer essentially retains control over critical elements of the system. It is expected that the project's architecture will be implemented in such a way that new partner countries can easily join it.