Ukraine and Italy discuss purchase of air defense systems using frozen Russian assets

Officials from Italy and Ukraine met to explore using frozen Russian assets to finance air defense capabilities.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported on this.

Brigadier General Anatoliy Klochko, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, held the talks with officials of the Defense Industry Agency of the Italian Ministry of Defense.

During the discussion, it was proposed to use the proceeds from the frozen Russian assets to purchase air defense systems and missiles produced by the Italian side.

“We are interested in, among other things, ammunition of various calibers and air defense systems. At the same time, it is important to understand the cost and terms of their supply to the Ukrainian Defense Forces,” Anatoliy Klochko noted.

In addition to discussing ways to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense, officials of the Ministry of Strategic Industry and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine familiarized themselves with the products of Italian defense companies.

Marcello Mele, a representative of the Italian Defense Industry Agency, presented the agency’s key work areas and explained the mechanisms of potential cooperation.

The Italian side expressed its readiness for joint projects and declared its support for Ukraine’s defense capabilities with the products of its own defense industry.

In addition to the Franco-Italian SAMP/T system, which successfully proved itself during the war in Ukraine, it is planned to deploy the production of GRIFO air defense systems. These systems will use British CAMM-ER anti-aircraft missiles with a range of 40-50 km.

CAMM-ER missiles will be manufactured in Italy. As part of the agreement, the Italian side will integrate an advanced engine from Avio to improve flight characteristics.

The GRIFO system is currently undergoing testing, but in the future, it may be transferred to Ukraine to complement the IRIS-T SLM air defense systems, expanding the country’s air defense capabilities.

Militarnyi previously reported that Germany will transfer 50 additional missiles to Ukraine for the IRIS-T air defense systems originally intended for the Bundeswehr.