politics
Ukraine and Nine European Nations Form Coalition for Shared Ballistic-Missile Defense
Ukraine and nine European countries announced Monday the formation of a coalition to develop a shared ballistic missile defense system. The statement was issued during talks in Paris with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The group recognized the growing threat from ballistic missiles and left the plan open to other participants.
Jul 13, 3:22 PM·1m read15 sources
+9
U.S. relianceEuropean autonom
uctoday.comAudio version
Tap play to generate a narrated version.
Ukraine and nine other countries announced Monday they were forming a coalition to build a shared ballistic-missile-defense system intended to counter Russian attacks. The ten nations are Ukraine, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
“Our goal is to build a shared ballistic missile defense capability for Europe,” the countries said in a statement issued in Paris at talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
French President Emmanuel Macron hosted the meeting at the Hôtel des Invalides. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk attended, along with Zelenskyy. ” The statement gave no timetable for establishing the system and said the plan remained open to other countries.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine and its partners could jointly develop a mass-produced, low-cost system with missiles within the next 12 months. A Russian drone attack struck a residential building in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, late Sunday, causing a fire. Ukrainian forces struck 105 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov between July 6 and 13, according to Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces.
The vessels included tankers, dry cargo ships, a ferry and tugboats.
