By KYIV. Dec 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian air defense systems have increased their effectiveness from 50% at the beginning of the war to 80% in December, which is confirmed by the Russian shelling on December 5, when Ukraine shot down 60 of the 70 missiles fired, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said in an interview with The Guardian.
According to Reznikov, Ukraine was using “a combination of air defence systems gifted by its partners, Soviet-era systems and repurposed mobile machine guns to combat the threat.”
He said that the series of wins “had created something that transcended diplomatic trust between Ukraine and its partners.”
“It’s something more: you became the believer of us and you started to invest, not only, I would say, not only weapons in Ukraine, [but] because you want to see the new Ukraine after this victory, not the old Soviet Ukraine,” he said.
What is more, The UK and other western allies are in the process of training thousands of Ukrainian troops, from novices, to specialising those who are already experienced soldiers. Reznikov claims that Russia, meanwhile, is “only using Soviet systems and training courses”.
