Polish PM Tusk calls for European ‘Iron Dome’
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Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has stressed the urgent need for establishing an “Iron Dome” defense system for Europe during talks with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Warsaw, Polsat News reported on April 15.
Europe needs an Iron Dome akin to Israel’s, he said.
“It doesn’t take much imagination to understand that Europe is also in a danger zone,” Tusk said.
“I am glad that the Prime Minister has responded positively to my proposal for Poland to join a European project that will effectively build a dome to protect our skies.”
Read also: Kuleba proposes using Polish Patriot missiles to defend Ukraine’s border
Denmark, Germany, and the United Kingdom are cooperating within NATO on the European defense system. Iran’s recent attack on Israel confirmed how important such installations are.
“There is no reason why Europe should not have such an anti-missile shield,” he said.
Prime Minister Frederiksen stressed the need for partners to support Ukraine in missile defense efforts.
“The number of air attacks on Ukraine has increased,” she said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier said that during Iran’s attack on Israel, decisive actions by allies prevented the success of terror and the loss of infrastructure, forcing the aggressor to retreat.
“Similar defense could be mounted for Ukraine against terror, as it, like Israel, isn’t a NATO member,” he said.
New Patriot air defense systems for Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine received Patriot systems not from the United States but from partner countries on March 28.
The money allocated for Patriot systems never came to Ukraine directly, he said. Transfer of these air defense systems was handled by European Union countries.
Read also: What can Ukraine glean from Iran’s attack on Israel — opinion
Ukraine had submitted requests for air defense systems to every country that possesses them, Zelenskyy said on March 30.
Zelenskyy said that 25 Patriot systems or their equivalents are needed to fully protect Ukraine’s airspace from Russian attacks on April 6.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that if Ukraine had a sufficient number of Patriot systems, the destruction of the Trypillia thermal power plant near Kyiv by a Russian missile strike would not have happened on April 12.
Ukraine is currently in active negotiations with its allies to supply two Patriot batteries and one Samp-T, he said on April 12.
If partners were ready to transfer these systems, the issue would be resolved within a few weeks, and Ukraine would receive them, Kuleba said.
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
