Kuleba: There is no argument against shooting down Russian missiles over Ukraine by partners

The Ukrainian side asks our partners to consider this possibility or to provide us with the necessary air defence systems and combat aircraft with the apprriate technical capabilities. This was stated by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba at a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"There is not a single legal, security or moral argument that stands in the way of our partners shooting down Russian missiles over the territory of Ukraine from their territory. Those who say that such actions would be an escalation are manipulating," Kuleba said.

According to him, we have heard the argument about the need to avoid escalation many times. However, over the past two years, the only party invved in escalation has been the Russian Federation, the Foreign Minister said.

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"So the first thing is that we do ask our partners to consider the possibility of intercepting Russian missiles – not Russian planes with Russian pilots on board, but pieces of iron that carry death from Russia to Ukraine – from the territory of our partner countries. There is an alternative sution: if you do not want to do this, then simply provide us with all the means necessary for this, we will deploy them on the territory of Ukraine and intercept these missiles ourselves. These are air defence systems and combat aircraft with the apprriate technical capabilities. And to take a position where we will not transfer air defence systems and will not support the shooting down of Russian missiles from our territory over the territory of Ukraine is a position of appeasement of the aggressor," the head of Ukrainian diplomacy stressed.

As reported, President Vodymyr Zelensky believes that the possible assistance of the North Atlantic Alliance in shooting down Russian missiles over the territory of Ukraine would help compensate for the deficit of Kyiv's air defence and would not mean NATO's invvement in the war.