Russia is trying to ramp up production of ballistic missiles to 100 a month, aiming to receive about 1,300 in total over a year. It currently has 600–630.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this at a meeting with journalists on 22 August. He stressed that Ukraine is working to weaken the enemy’s military industry.
“There are relevant tasks regarding strikes on military targets and other anti-ballistic sanctions,” he said.
Ukraine is successfully shooting down non-ballistic missiles — with aircraft, IRIS-T systems, and others.
“But ballistics are ballistics. Right now we are working to ensure there aren’t these 1,300 — to reduce that number. There is another area we are working on. I think you’ve seen recently that at some point they planned shelling, but did not carry it out. This is not a coincidence. That is, we are working to prevent them from being able to carry out massive missile attacks. These are separate complex operations, and we have now begun to get the first results, which of course are still not enough, but this is a certain path, and we are taking our steps,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
He said Ukraine expects new air-defense radars from the French side in the autumn. Also in the autumn, another air-defense system is to arrive, as well as an additional system that depends on production.
There is a shortage of missiles for SAMP/T systems, as there is for Patriot systems. Ukraine needs the Aster 30 missile, and it has already signed a contract to pay for them using a loan from Europe. In September, agreements are expected to be signed to produce additional missiles. They will be able to pay for them after funds from the EU are received. Ukraine also expects the finalization of an agreement with France on licenses to produce three types of its weapons.
The president also shared details about the Ukrainian anti-ballistic project Freyja.
“Companies are beginning to really work in this direction. Our anti-ballistic effort has several tracks. One of them is the European track — our joint FREYJA with Europe. We are counting heavily on this program. Another track is Raytheon, and we are talking about the possibility of building a Ukrainian missile for the Patriot system. They view this idea positively. They have selected a company that can do it — Fire Point. I met with Raytheon in the United States. We agreed that we are moving forward with this project. After that, they already held the first technical meeting with the Ukrainian side on the details. Now we will wait for their response. I think the response will come in the coming weeks. We will receive an answer regarding the timeline and understanding — whether it will work out or not,” he said.