Ukraine urgently needs the United States and Europe to supply more air defense systems and missiles, as well as to reconsider the ban on Ukrainian strikes against military targets deep inside Russia.
This was stated by Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, in an interview with The Washington Post, as reported by Ukrinform.
According to Syrskyi, new deliveries of air defense assets, including American Patriot systems, drone interceptors, and light aircraft for shooting down drones, could help prevent Russian attacks on Ukraine.
“They [the Russians] are targeting virtually everything — airfields, populated areas, infrastructure facilities. So, of course, we need supplies of ballistic missiles in order to be able to give the enemy a fitting rebuff,” Syrskyi said.
More medium- and long-range missiles, including American ATACMS and German Taurus systems, would allow Kyiv, provided restrictions on their use were lifted, to slow down Russian weapons production by targeting infrastructure that manufactures missiles and drones, the newspaper writes.
“The availability of any missile weapons is in itself a deterrent. I hope that thanks to President Trump’s position, this process will be much easier and … we won’t have any of the difficulties we had before,” Syrskyi added.
When asked if new deliveries of American missiles would save Ukrainian lives, Syrskyi replied, “Of course.” However, he declined to comment on whether Ukraine still has any ATACMS missiles left.
In addition to lacking air defense and missiles, Ukrainian forces are also experiencing a shortage of 155mm artillery shells and need additional supplies of armored vehicles, Syrskyi said.
“We have highly motivated and courageous soldiers who can advance, but they need modern, reliable means of protection,” he noted.
Commenting on the delay in the U.S. decision to allow Ukraine to carry out cross-border strikes using ATACMS, which helped shift the situation in Kharkiv, Syrskyi said: “We all made a lot of efforts, including public speaking, to explain and prove the need to use these types of long-range weapons on the territory of the Russian Federation.”
The Commander-in-Chief also said that last summer “was really very difficult for us.”
“We were heavily criticized because we were defending and retreating. I had to do something, let’s say, extraordinary,” Syrskyi explained.
After that, with the help of a small group of commanders, he developed an operation plan in Russia’s Kursk region intended to distract Russian forces and force them to go on the defensive inside their own country for the first time.
This operation boosted the morale of Ukrainian troops and civilians, although critics argued that the plan also left part of the front vulnerable to Russian attacks and ultimately led to greater territorial losses. Syrskyi stated that he firmly stands by the decision, saying it was a necessary plan that thwarted Russia’s ambitions to capture more Ukrainian territory and reduced pressure on certain struggling parts of the eastern front.
According to Syrskyi, the operation in Kursk resulted in at least 80,000 Russian soldiers being killed or wounded. He declined to disclose Ukrainian losses but noted they were significantly lower than Russian casualties.
Commenting on the defense of Pokrovsk, Syrskyi said it was made possible largely due to the determination of Ukrainian troops and the creation of obstacles such as minefields, which caused 30% vehicle losses for the Russians in that sector.
Syrskyi emphasized that enlisting more Ukrainians to defend the country remains a major challenge and acknowledged that “everything related to mobilization is very sensitive information.” Although the mandatory draft currently applies only to men aged 25 to 60, Ukraine has begun experimenting with a mobilization program for 18–24-year-olds. Syrskyi said a recent survey evaluating this initiative showed that for more than half of the respondents, “the motivation is more money”.
“If it is increased, there will be more applicants,” he said, noting that Russia has the resources to pay its contract soldiers significantly more.
As reported by Ukrinform, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that Ukraine will receive billions of dollars’ worth of weapons. According to him, the weapons the U.S. will send to NATO in support of Ukraine will include missile systems and Patriot batteries.
Photo: Main Communications Directorate of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Source: CinC Syrskyi urges U.S., EU to provide more air defense and allow strikes deep into Russia
