President Zelenskyy: There will be more ballistic missiles, and the existing defense capabilities are insufficient
Kyiv • UNN
President Zelenskyy stated that the existing anti-ballistic missile capabilities are insufficient, and the number of ballistic missiles will increase. Ukraine proposed to European leaders the creation of a joint air defense system FREYJA, offering its own interceptor missile.
Already, the existing anti-ballistic defense capabilities are insufficient. And as President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy predicts, there will be more ballistic missiles. He stated this during his speech before the start of the Anti-Ballistic Coalition meeting.
"Russia is making a final bet on strikes with ballistic missiles against cities and villages to break our people and deprive Ukraine of the ability to defend itself. The Iranian regime is fighting in the same way. Cooperation between Russia and North Korea has led to the improvement of North Korean missiles.
Our calculation is that there will be more ballistic missiles in the world. And there must be at least enough anti-ballistic defense. That is exactly what we are working on. Europe can become a world leader in the production of high-quality anti-ballistic systems, without political dependence," President Zelenskyy emphasized.
That is why Ukraine proposed to European leaders to unite technological capabilities to create a joint air defense system FREYJA. Ukraine will provide its interceptor missile for it, and European partners will provide other components of the system.
"Europe needs more protection from ballistic missiles. Together we can create such a system. Ukraine is ready to provide its part – the anti-ballistic missile. We are currently completing work on it. It is important to politically approve that FREYJA is our joint project in the interests of all of Europe," Zelenskyy emphasized.
The President emphasized that Europe needs more anti-ballistic defense – strong, reliable, and cheaper than other systems.
"Everyone sees that there are insufficient anti-ballistic capabilities in the world. The United States is working to expand Patriot production, and Europe is working to expand production of SAMP/T, IRIS-T, and NASAMS. These are strong systems. But the need for protection exceeds existing capabilities," the President added.
According to Zelenskyy, the creation of the FREYJA system will allow Europeans themselves to "decide how many systems Europe needs and where they should be deployed."
"This would create a strategically new situation. Each European system would add its strength and provide different parts of Europe with a strategic basis for protection," Zelenskyy emphasized.
The head of state welcomed the 9 countries that joined the Anti-Ballistic Coalition and, together with Ukraine, will work on creating a joint defense system.
"We will also be glad to welcome others," he added.
The joint declaration was signed, in addition to Ukraine, by the leaders of nine other European countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The Ukrainian defense company Fire Point, which developed the FP-7.x interceptor missile, will be involved in the development of FREYJA from Ukraine. European partners will be represented by: Thales, HENSOLDT, Diehl Defence, Saab, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, Weibel, Leonardo, MBDA, Eurosam, Safran, and Destinus. They will provide the components necessary for building a full-fledged air defense system, which will be integrated with the Ukrainian missile.
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.
The Ukrainian missile FP-7.x, 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 components of the system.
As Shtilerman explained, 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, in fact, 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.