Ukraine needs short-range air defense systems for protection against Iranian drones - Reznikov

Ukraine's Minister of Defense, Oleksii Reznikov, has said that he gets clear signals from Western partners about their support for Ukraine until the end of the war and hopes the country will get air defense systems to protect its skies.

He said this in an interview with Politico, Ukrinform reports.

"I get a clear signal from all sides that no matter what, the countries will support Ukraine until the end of this war, and I'm sure that the end of this war will mean victory for Ukraine," Reznikov said.

He said he was optimistic that U.S.-made Abrams tanks and F-16 fighter jets could be delivered to Ukraine in the future. "I'm really optimistic that Abrams tanks are possible in the future and I am sure that fighter jets like F-16s, F-15s, or Gripen from Sweden will also be possible," Reznikov added.

He noted that while tanks and fighter planes remain a work in progress, air defenses will continue to be "priority number one" in the coming months. "We need to divide the targets in the air — for example, to strike cruise or ballistic missiles our defense systems will use … rockets like IRIS-T from Germany and [soon] there will also be [the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System], or our Soviet systems like Buk. Against the Iranian drones we can use cheaper equipment like Gepard from Germany or Stingers and Starstreak, or other equipment from our partners," the minister added.

Bolstering that protective blanket over Kyiv and other cities remains top of mind for Ukrainian officials, as the missiles and drones keep coming, he said. "That's why we ask our partners to find the solutions with different systems not only for the middle-range or long-range, we need short-range systems [from] different countries that have those systems like Sweden, Germany and the United States," Reznikov said.

Reznikov earlier held a phone call with his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin to discuss another package of U.S. security assistance to Ukraine.