“The main task is to endure”: Kuleba stated Ukraine’s weak position in the anti-ballistic missile war with Russia

“The main task is to endure”: Kuleba stated Ukraine’s weak position in the anti-ballistic missile war with Russia

Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba spoke about Ukraine’s chances to obtain air defense and endure in the war against Russia under conditions of a “ballistic rain.” According to Kuleba, there are three to four options for obtaining air defense, but all of them are unlikely. Given this, he speaks of a difficult period in which Ukrainians will have to endure. What did Kuleba say about strikes by ballistic missiles from Russia?

Ukraine and Russia began striking each other, and it turned out that the Russians identified a vulnerable spot for Ukrainians, Kuleba said during a broadcast on his YouTube channel. The Kremlin is already preparing North Korean ballistic missiles for new strikes. At the same time, there is no air defense for protecting people and enterprises in the near future, the broadcast said.

Strikes by Russian ballistic missiles — Kuleba on ballistic missiles and air defense, see with 0:45

Kuleba answered the question about Ukraine’s possibility of victory in a scenario where victory must be won in the air and Ukraine has no protection against ballistic missiles. The former minister said that there will be no victory yet and that the main thing for Ukrainians is to endure the blows of ballistic missiles, as Russia understood that there would be no air defense. According to Kuleba, in addition to people, the Russians will put pressure on the economy and society.

“We cannot win it now, at this stage of the war. Accordingly, [the Russians] simply need to unleash as intense a rain of ballistic missiles on Ukraine as possible, and all resources will be devoted to this. The goal is to break Ukraine’s economy, Ukrainian society, and, as a consequence, the Ukrainian state. Our main task as a country is to survive the blows of Russian ballistic missiles,” the former minister said.

Meanwhile, several options exist for obtaining air defense, but some are unlikely or require time, Kuleba said. He named four directions. First, Patriot missiles will not be. Second, the Ukrainian-European air defense shield will not appear soon. Third, Ukrainian strikes against Iskander production and launchers will be carried out: he did not specify this point. Fourth, a likely increase in the production of the European SAMP/T system is unlikely. Given these theses, Kuleba stated that he “does not want to be a herald of apocalypse,” but he sees that “in ballistic war our positions are as weak as possible.” He then recalled ideas of Ukrainians moving to safer places, but stressed that everyone makes their own decision.

“In short, in the near future a decision on protecting Ukrainians and Ukrainian enterprises from Russian ballistic attacks will not be made,” summed up Kuleba.