Ukraine pushes for Europe to build defense system against ballistic weapons

Europe must have its own defense system against ballistic weapons, and Ukraine is already holding talks with several countries on its creation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday.

Defense against ballistic missiles is one of Ukraine's biggest challenges in the war with Russia, since only certain types of missiles used by the American Patriot system are capable of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles.

Russia uses ballistic missiles to attack Ukraine's energy infrastructure, destroying thermal power generation and electricity transmission systems.

"I believe, and my idea is that we should have a European anti-ballistic missile defense system. We are in talks with several countries and are working in this direction," Zelenskiy told the national TV channel, Marathon.

"We need to build our own anti-ballistic missile defense system within a year," he added.

Zelenskiy said the task is extremely difficult but realistic, and added that he had already discussed it with key European countries, though he did not name them.

He gave no more details.

However, Fire Point, maker of Ukraine's Flamingo cruise missile, told Reuters this month that it was in talks with European companies to launch a new air defence system by next year, creating a low-cost alternative to the increasingly hard-to-get Patriot system.

Patriot missiles are in increasingly short supply amid extensive deployment in the Gulf against Iranian attacks. And Europe's only anti-ballistic system, the Italo-French SAMP/T, is produced in relatively small numbers.

-Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Lisa Shumaker/Reuters