Ukraine leader calls for same defensive support Israel has

KYIV, Ukraine — The success of Israel and its allies in largely thwarting a massive Iranian missile and drone attack shows what Ukraine could achieve against Russian aerial barrages if it had more support from its partners, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Monday.

A recent Russian aerial campaign targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and other targets has wrought extensive damage, and Ukrainian officials have pleaded with the country’s Western allies to provide more air defense systems as the war stretches into its third year.

Israel’s defense system, with assistance from the U.S. and Britain — countries that are also supporting Ukraine’s war effort — is credited with preventing serious damage or casualties in Sunday’s attack by Iran using more than 300 drones and missiles.

Kuleba, speaking to reporters in Kyiv, urged Ukraine’s allies to “give us what we need and we will do the rest of the job.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made the same point late Sunday, referring to the Iranian attack. “The whole world sees what real defense is. It sees that it is feasible,” he wrote on Telegram.

Russia last week fired nearly 130 exploding drones, more than 80 Russian missiles and nearly 700 guided aerial bombs at Ukraine, Zelenskyy said Sunday on social media. He has pleaded with allies to send more Patriot systems.

However, the Institute for the Study of War noted there are key differences between the challenges faced by Israel and by Ukraine.

“Russian forces launch drones and missiles from throughout occupied Ukraine and in close proximity to Ukraine from within Russia, affording Ukrainian air defenders a fraction of the time that Israel and its allies leveraged to successfully blunt the mass Iranian missile and drone strike,” the Washington think tank said in an assessment late Sunday.