Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has proposed building a joint air defence shield with allies to protect against Russian threats after series of airspace breaches in NATO and EU countries in the past two weeks.
"Ukraine proposes to Poland and all our partners to build a joint, fully reliable shield against Russian aerial threats," Zelenskiy said in a video address to the Warsaw Security Forum on Tuesday. "This is possible. Ukraine can counter all kinds of Russian drones and missiles and if we act together in the region we will have enough weapons and production capacity," Zelenskiy explained. Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said Ukrainian participation would be essential to the project.
Addressing the meeting, Ionut Mosteanu, Defence Minister of Romania said new drone fragments were found in eastern Tulcea country neighbouring Ukraine on Monday following Russia's drone breach in mid-September. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius joined in calls for joint defence cooperation, stating "the European Union must back this by providing a much more flexible regulatory framework for the defence industry in Europe." However, he warned that the drone wall will be a time-consuming process. "We're not talking about a concept that will be realised within the next three or four years. We need to prioritise, and recognise that we require more capabilities and capacities than previously described," the minister said.
European Defence Ministers last week agreed to develop a "Drone wall" along their Russian and Ukrainian border to better detect and intercept drones breaching their airspace.
