An effective countermeasure against ballistic missiles. Ukraine is preparing requests for THAAD air defence systems — Zelenskyy

This was stated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a conversation with journalists.

“Ukraine must have a clear understanding of the security guarantees. Everything must be set out in such a way that Ukrainians can understand them. The agreement is as follows: in the coming days, Ukraine will incorporate into the draft document answers to the questions we have regarding these security guarantees,” Zelenskyy said.

According to him, there must be a clear answer as to what the US reaction will be in the event of further aggression by the Russian Federation. Ukraine is also maintaining an 800,000-strong army, but the question remains as to who will fund the army and how, apart from the Ukrainian budget.

Request for new air defence systems

“Today, Ukraine already has experience working with representatives from the Middle East and the Gulf region in consultations and expert assessments. At the same time, we want to rely on the anti-ballistic systems that these countries possess but which we do not have,” the head of state added.

This refers specifically to THAAD systems. Such systems do not exist in Europe either. It is vital that they are deployed in Ukraine. Then, for example, the threat of Russian aerial bombs would simply not exist in Ukraine.

“We would definitely eliminate this threat for at least 200 kilometres. Russian aircraft simply wouldn’t be able to fly in – and that’s it. We would like to have answers to these questions. Moreover, we will propose our own vision of how this should be done. Then the American side will analyse all this and respond to us,” concluded Zelenskyy.

THAAD air defence: what is known

THAAD is a ground-based anti-missile system designed for high-altitude, exo-atmospheric interception of ballistic missiles.

The system is based on the AN/TPY-2 radar with a 9.2-square-metre digital phased-array antenna operating in the X-band. According to various sources, the radar’s operational range is between 1,000 and 2,000 km.

The radar operates in a sector of approximately 120 degrees, so several such radars are required for comprehensive coverage. At the same time, target data can be fed into THAAD via a common information-sharing system, for example from satellites.