Ukraine seeking new air-defence systems after latest Russian strike

FE Team | Published: November 23, 2024 21:29:42

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (C-R) and his wife Olena Zelenska (C-L) pay tribute to the victims of the famine of 1932-1933 at the National Museum of the Holodomor on Saturday — AFP

KYIV, Nov 23 (AFP): Ukraine is asking its Western partners for updated air defence systems after Russia fired an ultra-fast ballistic missile at the city of Dnipro this week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday.
Russia has boasted its new "Oreshnik" hypersonic missile is unstoppable by air defences and has no equivalent anywhere in the world.
"Ukraine's defence minister is already holding meetings with our partners on new air defence systems-exactly the kind of systems that can protect lives from new risks," Zelensky said in an evening video address published on social media.
Russia's launch of the missile was the latest dramatic escalation in the conflict after Kyiv earlier this week fired shorter-range US and UK-supplied missiles onto Russian territory for the first time.
Zelensky also called out Moscow's key ally China for its response to Moscow's new missile, which experts say can likely be equipped with a nuclear warhead and fly several thousand kilometres.
China's foreign ministry said "all parties should remain calm and exercise restraint."
In his evening address, Zelensky said: "From Russia, this is a mockery of the position of states such as China, states of the Global South, some leaders who call for restraint every time."