Ukraine seeks new air defense systems after latest Russian strike: Zelensky

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Ukraine is asking its Western partners for updated air defense systems after Russia launched an ultra-fast ballistic missile at the city of Dnipro this week, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday.

Russia has boasted that its new “Oreshnik” hypersonic missile is unstoppable by anti-aircraft defenses and has no equivalent anywhere in the world.

“Ukraine’s defense minister is already holding meetings with our partners on new air defense systems — exactly the kind of systems that can protect lives from new risks,” Zelensky said in an evening video address posted on social media.

Russia’s launch of the missile was the latest dramatic escalation in the conflict, after Kiev launched shorter-range missiles supplied by the US and Britain into Russian territory for the first time earlier this week.

Zelensky also called out Moscow’s key ally China for its response to Moscow’s new missile, which experts say can be equipped with a nuclear warhead and fly several thousand kilometers.

China’s Foreign Ministry said “all sides should remain calm and exercise restraint.”

In his evening speech, Zelensky said: “From Russia, this is a mockery of the position of states like China, states of the Global South, some leaders who call for restraint every time.”

“The world must appear serious in its response so that Putin is truly afraid of expanding the war and feels the real consequences of his actions,” he added.

Kiev relies on Western weapons to defend itself against the Russian invasion, launched nearly three years ago.

Moscow, however, has said that the use of Western weapons against Russian territory makes NATO countries direct participants in the conflict and that military sites on their soil are legitimate targets for retaliatory strikes.

Both sides are rushing to secure a battlefield advantage before Donald Trump is inaugurated as US president in January.

Trump has said he can broker a peace deal within hours, though he has not provided details of his plan and has repeatedly criticized US aid to Ukraine.

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