ISTANBUL 

Ukraine’s defense minister said the country needs to strengthen its air defense ahead of the next winter.

“Today, our task is to accumulate such systems. Prior to winter, it is important to strengthen the air defense capabilities,” Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said at the country’s national telethon United News on Sunday.

Reznikov said this is “an important task” because the sky above Ukraine needs to be secured, and that they are dealing with this issue.

Reznikov further said Ukraine has already completed all core tasks related to the supply of certain types of weapons, but that they should focus on obtaining the number of air defense systems needed, as well as other means of air defense.

“Now we are speaking not of a principled decision regarding a certain system but of the number of those systems that will be equipped with missiles. These are also systems of radars, interception, situational awareness, etc.,” Reznikov also said.

He added that Kyiv is also raising the issue of provisions of spare parts during talks with its partners, in addition to maintenance and repair works, for air defense systems in order to keep them ready for combat.

Ukraine has been demanding air defense systems from Western countries to counter Russian air strikes which significantly intensified after an explosion damaged Russia's key Kerch Bridge connecting the country with the Crimean Peninsula last October.