Closing Ukraine’s air-defence gap: What Europe should do
fanny.pollet@i…
Thu, 09/03/2026 – 14:10
6 minutes
Ukraine faces what may be its most difficult winter defending its citizens and critical infrastructure. With battlefield gains elusive, Russia is intensifying its long-range strike campaign against Ukraine, aiming to undermine morale, disrupt social and economic life, and increase pressure on Kyiv to accept an unfavourable ceasefire. Denying Moscow that leverage by strengthening Ukraine’s air defences should be a European priority. Europeans should pursue three lines of effort: supplying Ukraine with Patriot and SAMP/T systems and interceptors from existing stocks; boosting production in Europe and Ukraine; and focusing on upgrades and developing new systems
Russia’s strikes involve a mix of ‘traditional’ drones (including Shaheds), jet-powered drones, cruise missiles and a growing number of ballistic missiles. Ukraine has built a layered defence system to counter these threats, combining electronic warfare, anti-air guns, interceptor drones, acoustic signals, air-to-air missiles and ground-based air defence systems such as the NASAMS, Iris-T and Patriot.
Ukraine can neutralise many of these threats, although its defences are …read more
