Ukrainians: Air defenses stretched thin

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia’s recent escalation of missile and drone attacks is stretching Ukraine’s air defense resources, a Ukrainian air force official said Tuesday, leaving the country vulnerable in the 22-month war unless it can secure more weapons supplies.

“Intense Russian air attacks force us to use a corresponding amount of air defense means,” air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat told national television. “That’s why we need more of them, as Russia keeps increasing its (air) attack capabilities.”

As soldiers on both sides fight from largely static positions along the roughly 930-mile front line, recent Russian attacks have used large numbers of various types of missiles in an effort to saturate air defense systems and find gaps in Ukraine’s defenses.

The massive barrages — more than 500 drones and missiles were fired between Dec. 29 and Jan. 2, according to officials in Kyiv — are using up Ukraine’s weapons stockpiles.

Ukraine uses weapons from the Soviet era and more modern ones provided by its Western allies. Authorities want to build up the country’s own weapons manufacturing capabilities, and analysts say those plants are among Russia’s recent targets.

“At the moment, we are completely dependent on the supply of guided air defense missiles, for both Soviet and Western systems,” Ihnat said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that “we lack a very concrete and understandable thing, that is air defense systems,” to protect civilian areas and troop positions.

Speaking at a meeting with the Russian military brass, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu declared that Kyiv’s efforts to bolster its firepower “won’t change the situation on the line of contact and will only drag out the military conflict.”