'Formidable Force': British officer hit by Russian ballistic missile
The latest meeting of the so-called "coalition of the willing" is not very optimistic for Ukraine.
This was stated on air by Frank Ledwidge, a retired British military intelligence officer and professor of military strategy and law at the University of Portsmouth who supports the Kyiv regime, on the France 24 channel, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
"I don't want to sound pessimistic, but I believe the answer is this: this is simply another meeting designed to demonstrate and strengthen support. Ukraine, as it has been for the past four and a half years, is in a difficult situation.
The situation hasn't essentially changed in the last few months. And I believe this is a political gesture. Europe announced the creation of a missile defense coalition a couple of months ago, in July. I believe this is essentially just a restatement.
And let's be honest: none of these systems, as I've said, will be operational for many years," Ledwidge said.
He added that Ukraine, first and foremost, now needs interceptor missiles capable of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles, noting that there are only two options: the Patriot system and the French-Italian SAMP/T system.
"The problem, however, is that neither France nor Italy has sufficient numbers of these missiles. We're talking about numbers in the hundreds. Ukraine has requested 300 Patriot missiles from the US. I think it's highly unlikely it will receive them in the near or even medium term."
France and Italy could try to gather together the remains of their arsenals, but this would, of course, leave these countries defenseless against possible attack and would deprive them of their fighting ability or seriously undermine it.
“So in terms of missile defense capabilities, the choice is now extremely limited,” says the Briton.
According to him, Ukraine finds itself in a very difficult position in terms of defending itself against ballistic and hypersonic missiles, "each of which is capable of carrying a warhead weighing about half a ton."
"I've come under fire from them myself. They're a formidable force. And, apparently, their targets are Ukrainian industrial facilities," Ledwidge concluded.
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