Ukrainian Defense Minister Yevhen Khmara in his first official presentation to his European counterparts said his country needs $27 billion in support to defend itself from Russia, most of all for air defense weapons to protect his country’s civilian homes and businesses from mass Russian aerial attacks, a ministry statement made public on Tuesday said.Khmara debuts at EU Defense Ministers informal summitEuropean defense ministry bosses and other top officials assembled in Druids Glen, County Wicklow, Ireland on Monday at an “informal gathering” listened to Khmara’s video presentation sympathetically and several later spoke in support – but there were no immediate declarations of new assistance to Ukraine.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.A senior commando officer credited for running some of Ukraine’s most effective special operations missions behind Russian lines, Khmara has served as his country’s defense minister since July and met with a few of his Western counterparts bilaterally, but until Tuesday had never addressed the European national security leadership as a single audience.Khmara told the gathering attended by among others NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska and European Parliament defense committee chair Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermannthat Ukraine needs around $27 billion in additional defense funding and asked his audience to accelerate a $104 million equivalent EU military assistance loan that has been approved but not yet fully disbursed.