The west defends Israel’s skies. Not doing the same for Ukraine is a deadly mistake | Nathalie Tocci
www.theguardian.com
In Kyiv, I saw life under Russian aerial attack. If Europe doesn’t share its air defence systems now, Putin’s threat will only spread, says Guardian Europe columnist Nathalie Tocci

The value of an effective air defence system and of unwavering international support was crystal clear the night of Iran’s massive attack on Israel: most Iranian missiles and drones were destroyed before they reached Israeli soil. The US, the UK and France, as well as Jordan, participated in Israel’s defence.

Unlike Israel, Ukraine lacks sufficient air defences, and the west provides far less than it could or should to defend Ukraine against Russia. Ukraine is not dealing with one-off retaliation for striking a Russian consulate – as Israel is with Iran. Russia has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine since 2014, aimed at eradicating its nationhood.

  • UnfortunateShort
    5•25 days ago

    I love how people are concerned about nukes. A lot of air-defense equipment has been delivered to Ukraine and for some time they were able to defend their skies quite well. There were/are much more direct problems than any potential escalation:

    1. Russia is firing much, much more (and prob. more lethal) stuff at Ukraine than all of Israels foes combined.

    2. Ukraine is a much, much bigger country than Israel, with many potential targets spread throughout. This massively complicates defense and logistics.

    3. Israel already had excellent air-defense when the conflict began, while Ukraine needed to arm up with whatever western nations feel they could spare.

    4. Many if not most of these nations weren’t really prepared the sudden spike in anti-air demand, lacking the capabilities to replenish their equipment. At best they can provide munition, but getting new systems is a problem at this point. That’s why for example a new Patriot production line is build in Germany.

    • @Pilferjinx
      1•24 days ago

      Let’s not pretend Israel gets the royal treatment while Ukraine can barely get the scraps. I agree that nukes are very unlikely though