Volodymr Zelenskyy has said he wants “concrete results” by the end of this year on producing an anti-ballistic missile defence system for Ukraine. Zelenskyy referred to Ukraine’s role in the Freyja programme to jointly develop a European anti-ballistic system as an alternative to Patriot. “Ukraine is capable of producing its missile and launcher, while our partners will provide the necessary components and critical elements – radars, sensors, and everything else required … Others spent decades developing their systems. Ukraine must do this as quickly as possible, with concrete results already in place by the turn of 2026–2027.”
Zelenskyy said on Thursday night that he had met with senior officials on how to accelerate development “so that Ukrainian weapons manufacturers and developers can deliver real results … We are creating all the necessary conditions to make that happen.” On the offensive side, “Ukraine is also working to develop ballistic missiles of its own. The tests have shown strong potential. We need to turn this into a real weapon.”
The Kyiv region observed an official day of mourning on Thursday after a Russian missile and drone blitz killed 17 people the previous day. In the first six months of this year, 1,396 civilians were killed and 7,978 injured in Ukraine, the UN office in Kyiv said on Wednesday. That was a 37% increase from the same period last year and a 114% jump over 2024, it said, attributing the rise to more long-range aerial attacks by Russia.
