General Top AS Wants Ukraine To Build Comprehensive Missile Defense, Combining Allied Operated Systems

General Mark A Milley. (Wikimedia Commons/3rd US Infantry Register The Old Guard)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said the US and its allies needed to help Ukraine build comprehensive air defense and missile systems, by combining various allied-operated systems to help Kyiv defend its airspace from Russian attacks, following a meeting of defense ministers and military leaders in Brussels, Belgium, Wednesday.

"What needs to be done here, by various countries attending today's conference are, participating and helping them rebuild and maintain an integrated air defense and missile system," General Milley said at a press conference after the meeting.

Ukrainian leaders are known to re-emphasize their urgent need for air defense systems from Western countries, following a series of Russian missile attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure on Monday and Tuesday.

General Milley stressed that the US cannot protect Ukraine's skies from live missile and air attacks that enter alone. To protect the sky above the country, the US and its allies must donate to their air defense systems, then help Ukraine use the system together to create defenses.

"Many countries have other systems, there are a range of Israeli systems that are quite capable. Germany has systems like we mentioned, so many countries here today have a variety of systems," said General Milley.

He further suggested that if some countries send their air defense systems, Ukraine could 'connect' them together with the command and control and communications system.

The top US general's statement represents a possible change in approach from Ukrainian allies to help them fight the recent incoming attacks from Russian troops.

Despite combining different systems, it will potentially provide Ukraine with the help it needs faster. However, it is likely to present logistical challenges in getting Ukraine trained on the system and can operate it together.

"The task is to unite them, get them deployed, train them, because each of these systems is different, ensure they can connect along with the command system, as well as control and communications, ensure they have radars that they can talk to each other, so they can get targets," said General Milley.

The execution of this strategy would be "sufficiently complex" from a technical point of view, but General Milley said it was "reachable."

It is known that the ministers and defense chiefs of 50 countries participated in the sixth meeting of the Ukrainian Defense Contact Group organized by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and Major General Eduard Moskaliov, commander of the Ukrainian joint forces, attended the meeting and gave ministers an explanation of Ukraine's "new battlefield dynamics".