President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine needed to secure and deploy advanced missiles and to achieve faster results with them on the battlefield.
Speaking in his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said a meeting with top commanders had been devoted to the development of domestic weapons supplies in the more than 2-1/2-year war against Russia.
This, he said, involved drones, electronic warfare and, above all, deploying missiles that would reap rapid benefits in battlefield confrontations with Russian forces.
“Special emphasis is on our national missile programme in all its elements. In all of Ukraine’s missiles achievements, there must be more combat accomplishments both at the front and on Russian territory,” Zelenskyy said.
“Results are needed faster. And all relevant tasks are now being carried out.”
Since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion, Ukraine has requested its Western partners, principally the United States, to supply sophisticated long-range missiles.
It has also focused on rapidly developing a domestic arms industry. Much of the focus has been on drones, with Zelenskyy calling last year for 1 million to be manufactured in 2024, but officials have also stressed the importance of missile development.
Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said this month Ukraine would announce in the coming months the development of new missiles, including ballistic missiles.
Russia has begun including cheap drones in its long-range attacks on Ukraine. The aim of these drones is to try to identify air defences, film any damage and act as decoys, a Ukrainian military spy official said. The two new types of drone, which Russia has used in five drone attacks in the last two to three weeks are produced from materials such as foam, plastic and plywood, the official stated.
One type carries a camera and a Ukrainian mobile phone SIM card to send images back to the Russian military.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)