Ukraine could have issues with downing Iranian-made missiles - Air Force spox

01.11.2022 18:00

Ukrinform

Ukraine’s forces will do everything possible to counter the Iranian missiles that the Russian Federation plans to place across the northern border of Ukraine. At the same time, Ukraine currently has only air defenses, not missile defenses, so it will be extremely difficult to shoot down such missiles.

Yuriy Ihnat, the spokesman for the Air Force Command, said this during a briefing at the Ukraine-Ukrinform media center.

"We will definitely take all measures and employ all means to protect the country against these missiles because it’s highly likely they will be delivered north of Ukraine, from where they can be launched to threaten the whole of the country – one type of the missile has a 300-km range, while the other flies 700 km. Yes, these are ballistic missiles, against which we have no effective defense. It is theoretically possible to shoot them down, but it is actually very difficult to do this with the capabilities we have at our disposal today. We have air defenses, not missile defenses. Meanwhile, the missiles that the occupiers plan to get from Iran are precisely ballistic," Ihnat said.

As reported earlier, From February 24 to November 1, the Armed Forces of Ukraine eliminated nearly 72,470 Russian soldiers, including 650 over the past day.

Moreover, the Ukrainian troops destroyed 2,698 Russian tanks (+12 over the past day), 5,501 (+16) armored combat vehicles, 1,730 (+2) artillery systems, 383 MLR systems, 197 anti-aircraft systems, 276 (+1) warplanes, 257 (+4) helicopters, 1,415 (+2) operational-tactical UAVs, 397 (+45) cruise missiles, 16 warships/cutters, 4,143 (+15) trucks and tankers, and 154 units of specialized equipment.