Ukraine lacks effective means to counteract Iranian missiles, says Ukrainian Air Force spokesman
Iran may transfer ballistic missiles to Russia for war against Ukraine (Photo:imp_navigator/Flickr)
Ukraine lacks effective means to counter the Iranian ballistic missiles that Russia is likely to use to attack Ukraine soon, Yuriy Ihnat, Ukrainian Air Forces command spokesman, said on Ukrainian national television on Nov. 2.
Ihnat said the threat of Russian using ballistic missiles is not new, and Ukraine had already faced a greater one in the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion, when Russian Iskander-M and Tochka-U ballistic missiles were widely used throughout the country.
Ihnat explained that ballistic missiles are more dangerous than the cruise missiles and Iranian suicide drones that Russia has frequently used to attack Ukraine in recent weeks.
“Unfortunately, we have no effective defense means to counter ballistic missiles,” he said.
“This is ballistics – it flies almost from outer space, flies downward at high speed. It’s actually impossible to shoot them down, but it’s possible to counter them in different ways.”
He said the best method is to destroy the weapons at their launch sites.
He said Iranian-supplied missiles have ranges of 300 to 700 kilometers.
Ukraine’s Military Intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov earlier warned that Russia could deploy Iranian missiles against Ukraine as early as November.
The Washington Post reported on Oct. 16 that Iran has agreed to supply Russia with two types of surface-to-surface missiles – the Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar. These short-range ballistic missiles can strike targets up to 700 kilometers away, the newspaper reported.
U.S. news channel CNN reported on Nov. 1 that Iran is preparing to send Russia approximately 1,000 additional weapons to use in its war against Ukraine, including short range ballistic missiles and more attack drones.
The U.S. Department of Defense has yet to confirm the media reports that Iran will provide Russia with short-range ballistic missiles soon.
At the same time, Tehran continues to deny it is supplying the Russian regime with weapons, despite the overwhelming evidence of its current military cooperation with Moscow.
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