Polish ex-commander believes West should send more IRIS-T, SAMP/T systems to Ukraine
The relevant statement was made by Waldemar Skrzypczak, an ex-commander of the Polish Land Forces, former Deputy Minister of National Defence of the Republic of Poland, in a commentary to Ukrinform.
The Polish expert believes that today’s massive attack on Ukraine’s territory was the beginning of Russia’s so-called ‘missile offensive’, taking place along with the ground phase of the aggressor’s offensive actions. In his words, Russia intends to paralyze Ukraine.
“Hence, they attack urban agglomerations, trying to deprive Ukrainians of water, electricity, heat, taking human lives. These massive attacks will accompany Russia’s winter offensive in the east,” Skrzypczak explained.
The military expert expressed confidence that Ukrainians should receive more air defense systems from the allies, especially since Ukraine had to redeploy some of them to the east to protect its forces.
“Currently, the protection of cities from the air deep inside the country is insufficient. Therefore, the gaps need to be filled with European air defense systems, German-made IRIS-T and French-made SAMP/T, so that Ukraine can better protect its skies,” Skrzypczak emphasized.
According to him, Germany, France and Italy have such systems, and now it would be the right time to hand them over to Ukraine, so that the latter can successfully defend itself against the Kremlin terror targeting Ukrainian cities, civilians and critical infrastructure.
Speaking of a Russian missile that crossed Poland’s airspace on the morning of December 29, 2023, Skrzypczak noted that Warsaw should deepen its relations with Kyiv in that regard, namely in terms of cooperation related to the downing of Russian air targets.
A reminder that, on December 29, 2023, Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine’s territory, targeting Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Konotop, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, and other cities. Ukrainian forces intercepted 27 enemy Shahed-type combat drones and 87 Kh-101/Kh-555/Kh-55 cruise missiles.
