Los alemanes dan juguetes de los güenos.
All targets shot down - Ukraine praises German IRIS-T air defense system
Last year, Germany sent Ukraine IRIS-T to defend against Russian air raids. The Ukrainian military is enthusiastic about the air defense system and thanks its "German partner". At the same time, Kiev is signaling that further weapons are urgently needed in view of the planned counter-offensive.
In the fight against the Russian invasion, Ukraine has praised the IRIS-T anti-aircraft systems supplied by Germany. "Since October 2022, the IRIS-T missile systems division has destroyed over 60 air targets in the skies over Ukraine!" Air Force Chief Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on Telegram. The 50-year-old thanked the "German partners" and reminded them that Kiev already has two systems.
In a video published for this purpose, an operator with the battle name "Jeweler" is enthusiastic because "all targets have been shot down". Judging by the radar map shown, a system was in use not far from the southern Ukrainian port of Odessa.
Ukraine has been repelling a Russian invasion with Western help for over 14 months. According to information from Kiev, the Russian army has already fired more than 8,000 rockets at targets in Ukraine. Kiev therefore repeatedly pushed for more western anti-aircraft systems. Especially shortly before the planned spring offensive, the demands for it are getting louder again.
The Ukrainian ambassador Oleksiy Makejev recently emphasized: "More air defense systems such as IRIS-T, Patriot and Gepard are most urgently needed." Armored vehicles, tanks and artillery systems are also needed for the offensive. The more professional the Ukrainian army is equipped, the more civilians can be saved and the faster the Russian army can be pushed out of the occupied territories, the ambassador told the newspapers.
In addition to the Patriot and IRIS-T air defense systems, Germany has so far delivered 18 Leopard 2A6 main battle tanks, 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles and 34 Gepard anti-aircraft vehicles to Ukraine.
Edit: for your info guys, IRIS-T SLM was a prototype when the invasion began, not even the Bundeswehr has the system yet as emergency production at the production facility in Germany has been ramped up. Every produced system goes straight to Ukraine.
