According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, neutralizing Russia’s ballistic missile threat is a key to ending the war that continues to ravage his country. “This is Russia’s last major advantage,” he told fellow leaders at the NATO summit earlier this month.
Kyiv’s ability to achieve this goal today is limited. So far this year, Russia has launched over 500 ballistic missiles at Ukraine. In June 2026, these attacks contributed to almost 300 Ukrainian civilian deaths. U.S.-made Patriot interceptors are the only reliable defense against Russia’s ballistic missile attacks, but these are in short supply, especially since the war in Iran forced Washington to divert much of its existing stockpile to the Middle East.
Zelensky’s answer to this challenge is the Freya, a Ukrainian-developed air defense system he hopes will give the country its own anti-ballistic missile protection while also integrating the country irreversibly with European partners. But this plan is unlikely to work—and could even backfire.
Not only will the Freya fail to solve Ukraine’s air defense problems in the near term, but the system’s reliance on foreign technology will institutionalize Ukraine’s security dependence on Europe in ways that could leave Kyiv less secure over the longer term.
Read at Responsible Statecraft
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Events on Ukraine-Russia
