Ukraine wants US new capabilities to fight Iranian drones
ABC News has received a letter sent by senior Ukrainian officials to senior members of parliament calling for additional air defense systems to counter attack drones built and supplied by Iran to support Russia's war effort. I urged him to support the request.
Russia has used Iranian-made drones that explode on impact to attack power plants in recent weeks, killing civilians and causing blackouts that plunge millions of Ukrainian homes into darkness, leading to deadly attacks. launched a wave.
In the letter, Ukrainian parliamentary speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said it would help protect "important objects, especially important power plants", and a highly mobile air defense system known as C-RAM. asked the United States to provide it to Ukraine.
The C-RAM incorporates a radar to track incoming threats and a huge rapid-fire artillery to shoot them down, and NATO says the "most effective" system is 4,500 rounds per minute. He says he has the ability.
A senior Ukrainian politician told his ABC News that the Ukrainian government has also made a formal request to the Biden administration for his C-RAM system.
ABC has reached out to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense for comment. The Pentagon has not commented on specific Ukrainian arms requests.
Pentagon Spokesperson Colonel Lt. Garon Garn told ABC News this week that US assistance is "focused on equipment relevant to the current battle."
“We are working around the clock to respond to Ukraine’s request for priority security assistance, providing weapons from the U.S. stockpile as they become available,” he added.
As it stands, Ukrainian officials say they use a variety of methods to shoot down drones.
According to Ukrainian politicians briefed on the matter, Ukrainian fighter jets are being used to track them down and in some cases shoot them down.
“We are using all sorts of things (to destroy Iranian drones),” a source told ABC News, with the Ukrainian military even resorting to shoulder-launched anti-tank weapons to counter the threat. He added that there is
The White House said last month that Russia was launching Iran-supplied drones from the Crimea peninsula south of mainland Ukraine, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at the time that "relatively few" Iranian personnel were stationed in Crimea to help Russia operate the drones.
Ukrainian officials said the drones fly slowly, allowing Ukrainian forces to reach their targets in just a few hours after being launched from Crimea.
But Ukrainian officials said drones can change their trajectory during flight, making it difficult for the military to deploy agents capable of shooting them down.
In his letter, Stefanchuk additionally asks senior U.S. lawmakers to help him in asking the Biden management to offer longer-variety missiles in order that the Ukrainian navy ought to break objectives such as "shares of Iranian drones, deep at the back of the enemy traces at the occupied territory of Ukraine."
On Monday, Ukraine's protection minister introduced that superior air protection structures for countering Russian missiles and rockets, referred to as NASAMS, had arrived in Ukraine. A senior U.S. reliable showed that structures have been brought to Ukraine.
The U.S. introduced in August that it promised any other six NASAMS launchers to Ukraine, however it may be a while till they come withinside the country.
A Ukrainian authorities supply stated the Ukrainian authorities changed into speakme to all of its partners, inclusive of the U.S., approximately developing a "complete and wide" air protection system "all throughout Ukraine."
"We're now no longer speakme approximately some structures close to the the front traces," the reliable added. "If we've got this comprehensive air defense] system, this conflict can cease quicker and that is in all of our interests."
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