A woman lays flowers in colours of Ukrainian flag to the Wall of Remembrance of the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine, in Kyiv on January 17, 2024.SERGEI SUPINSKY/Getty Images
Too many Ukrainians have died in the year since Canada announced the “high-priority donation” of an advanced air-defence system to Ukraine that has yet to be delivered, the secretary of the country’s National Security and Defence Council said.
Oleksiy Danilov told The Globe and Mail that his own nephew, killed near the front line on Jan. 8, was among those who had died in the 53 weeks since Canada promised to purchase a US$406-million National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS, on Ukraine’s behalf. While the reasons for the delay may make sense in Ottawa, the wait for the U.S.-made equipment is harder to understand for those facing daily Russian missile attacks.
How NASAMS work
Developed by Raytheon in cooperation with Norway’s Kongsberg Defence, the advanced surface-to-air missile system will help Ukraine to defend big cities from Russian missile strikes
1
Detection
MPQ-64F1 Sentinel Active 3D radar searches sky for aircraft or missile threats
Vehicle with passive electro-optic and infrared sensor
5
2
Engagement
Fire distribution centre (FDC) weapons control computer determines intercept point and relays data to launcher
4
3
Launch
Mobile launcher fires missile towards intercept point. Can fire six missiles against six different targets in seconds
4
Flight
Missile tracked by radar and guided with help from FDC and its own homing sensors
5
Impact
Once missile closes to self-homing distance, radar seeker locks on target for collision
SOURCE: GRAPHIC NEWS
How NASAMS work
Developed by Raytheon in cooperation with Norway’s Kongsberg Defence, the advanced surface-to-air missile system will help Ukraine to defend big cities from Russian missile strikes
1
Detection
MPQ-64F1 Sentinel Active 3D radar searches sky for aircraft or missile threats
Vehicle with passive electro-optic and infrared sensor
5
2
Engagement
Fire distribution centre (FDC) weapons control computer determines intercept point and relays data to launcher
4
3
Launch
Mobile launcher fires missile towards intercept point. Can fire six missiles against six different targets in seconds
4
Flight
Missile tracked by radar and guided with help from FDC and its own homing sensors
5
Impact
Once missile closes to self-homing distance, radar seeker locks on target for collision
SOURCE: GRAPHIC NEWS
How NASAMS work
Developed by Raytheon in cooperation with Norway’s Kongsberg Defence, the advanced surface-to-air missile system will help Ukraine to defend big cities from Russian missile strikes
1
Detection
MPQ-64F1 Sentinel Active 3D radar searches sky for aircraft or missile threats
Vehicle with passive electro-optic and infrared sensor
5
4
2
3
Engagement
Fire distribution centre (FDC) weapons control computer determines intercept point and relays data to launcher
Launch
Mobile launcher fires missile towards intercept point. Can fire six missiles against six different targets in seconds
4
5
Flight
Missile tracked by radar and guided with help from FDC and its own homing sensors
Impact
Once missile closes to self-
homing distance, radar seeker locks on target for collision
SOURCE: GRAPHIC NEWS
“It’s a complicated question. If Ukraine had this air-defence system, would it have saved the life of my nephew or not? And there are a lot of people like my nephew. We have losses every day,” Mr. Danilov said Tuesday in an interview inside the NSDC’s fortified headquarters in Kyiv. “The faster we get these protective systems, the fewer casualties we will suffer. When you ask me ‘Is one year too long?,’ how should we measure that?”
There’s no hard figure on the number of Ukrainians who have been killed over 23 months of war, but it is in the tens of thousands. “The past weeks saw a steep increase in civilian casualties,” the local United Nations office said Tuesday, adding that “hundreds of civilians were killed or wounded” in missile and drone strikes since Dec. 29.
Canadian officials have said the NASAMS was paid for last March and that delivery has been held up by the requirement of a foreign military sales agreement between the United States and Ukrainian governments, which is still under negotiation. Defence Minister Bill Blair reportedly met with the U.S. ambassador to Canada, David Cohen, last week to request that the process be expedited.
NASAMS, which are also produced in Norway, are considered one of the most advanced air-defence systems, a badly needed shield against near-nightly Russian cruise missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities. Each system contains a radar unit, sensors, a mobile command centre and launchers that can be loaded with as many as six missiles each.
Oleksiy Danylov, The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council at his office in Kyiv, Ukraine on Jan. 16.Anton Skyba/The Globe and Mail
Ukraine already has at least one NASAMS battery, as well as two U.S.-produced Patriot anti-aircraft systems and some older Soviet units, protecting its cities. However, those have been increasingly challenged in recent weeks by Russian attacks that have seen dozens of missiles, some of them hypersonic, launched simultaneously in an effort to overwhelm Ukraine’s defences. Mass attacks on Dec. 29 and Jan. 2 each saw Russian forces launch more than 100 projectiles at the same time.
At least 58 people were killed in the Dec. 29 attack, which saw explosions in cities around the country, including Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Odesa, Kharkiv and Lviv. Six more people were killed on Jan. 2.
On Wednesday night, Russia struck the eastern city of Kharkiv with two S-300 ballistic missiles, injuring 17 people. It was the latest in a series of ballistic missile strikes – which are particularly hard to defend against because of the speed and angle they approach at – targeting Ukraine’s second-largest city.
Mr. Danilov – who tracks Russian air assaults as they happen on a giant computer screen in his office – praised foreign donations of anti-aircraft systems as a “great deed.” But he said there remains a substantial gap between the military assistance Ukraine’s Western allies have promised to deliver and what his country has received.
“We are lacking weapons, especially those that were promised by our partners. We didn’t get enough. I won’t discuss why it is so, but I would like to underline this fact,” he said. “Can we blame someone? Obviously not. It’s our country and our responsibility, and we carry this responsibility.”
Ukraine, which has received military support from NATO since the start of the Russian invasion in February, 2022 – even though it is not a member of the bloc – has turned recently to signing “security co-operation” agreements with individual countries. The first, which committed Britain to provide £2.5-billion of military assistance this year and to “continue its support to Ukraine for the 10-year duration of this agreement” was signed last week during a visit to Kyiv by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
The deal appears to already have been interpreted differently by the two sides, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying afterward that Ukraine had received “security guarantees” from Britain, while Mr. Sunak said the deal contained “security assurances.” The document uses the term “security assistance” and – in addition to a British commitment to provide Ukraine with military assistance during the current conflict – obliges the two sides to consult within 24 hours in the event of “any future Russian invasion.”
Canada appears to be next in line to sign a similar pact. Natalka Cmoc, Canada’s ambassador to Ukraine, told the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper that she delivered a draft of a proposed deal – modelled on the Britain-Ukraine agreement – to Mr. Zelensky’s office last week. In the interview, a video of which was posted to YouTube, Ms. Cmoc was careful to use the same wording as Mr. Sunak.
“I think the ‘assurance’ word is very important,” Ms. Cmoc said. “We are looking to create a document that will provide assurances to Ukraine, and the urgency is here. We want to make sure that we’re creating something, an agreement, so that we can share with Ukraine quickly.”
Mr. Danilov said the pact with Britain was “a great document” that he hoped Canada and Ukraine could use as a baseline for their own deal. “But the most important things are actions,” he said.
He said the world was splitting again into blocs “of darkness and light,” as during the Cold War. A flipchart in the NSDC office divides countries into those seen as Ukraine’s firm allies, of which there are 30 (including Canada), shaded dark green, with another 64 coloured lighter green to identify them as more fairweather friends. The nine countries viewed as siding outright with Russia are an angry orange, while 20 more are a lighter tone, indicating they lean toward Moscow over Kyiv. Twelve are coloured blue, as states seen to be playing both sides.
Mr. Danilov showed the map to The Globe on the condition that it not disclose which countries are considered Ukraine’s enemies or playing both sides. But he said many of Ukraine’s allies still don’t grasp the size of the struggle taking place.
“While democracy doesn’t respond rapidly to the darkness that’s spreading, the darkness is conquering more and more territories,” he said. “There are many of them – it’s not only Russia.”