Zelenskyi hold staff meeting on air defense and funding

Today, I held a Staff meeting, focusing on several key areas. First – air defense and everything needed for the daily downing of Russian missiles and the downing of drones. Funding for interceptors, production volumes, agreements with our partners – the Ministry of Defense and the military command maintain regular oversight of all this, and production must be ramped up to the maximum. Special attention was on short- and medium-range air defense, which is needed both at the front and for protecting energy facilities. We have updated our needs, and production will be increased accordingly. Our Ukrainian production is our guarantee of protection. Ukrainians cannot depend on whether something can be sourced from the global market or from partners’ stockpiles. Production targets must be met on time, with personal accountability at every level.

We are also addressing brigade requests, following my visits to the frontline areas. One such request concerns the fair distribution of personnel among brigades. The replenishment of brigades must be reviewed, of course. This is being raised in nearly every combat brigade, and the Staff has now tasked Chief of the General Staff Andrii Hnatov, together with Pavlo Palisa, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office and a highly experienced military officer, to work through all of this. Draft decisions are expected to be prepared for me shortly.

Of course, detailed reports on the frontline situation were presented across key areas. Kupyansk, Pokrovsk, Huliaipole. It is important that our Ukrainian warriors continue destroying the enemy, holding positions, and completing combat missions. This is the very foundation of our ability to negotiate in Ukraine’s interests.