Analyses
Poroshenko: Ukraine has no plans to repeat mistakes of Budapest memo, country needs high-precision missiles
By Interfax-Ukraine, March 9, 2019
Mar 11, 2019 - 4:49:15 PM

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that Ukraine has not been bound with some limits regarding the missile range anymore and now the country seeks to develop high-precision missiles.

“We are no longer bound by any limitations either on the range of our missiles, nor on their power – let the enemy know about it, too. We need high-precision missiles and we are not going to repeat the mistakes of the Budapest memorandum,” Poroshenko said at a meeting of the Regional Development Council in Cherkasy region on Saturday.

He said that high-precision missiles of extended range are capable of hitting targets far behind enemy lines that occupied the Ukrainian state.

“This will make the aggressor more restrained, and our defense will be safer,” the president said.

The head of state recalled that Russia suspended the treaty on medium and shorter-range missiles, and the United States withdrew from it, “as we, Ukrainians, too who lost certain obligations that we adhered to before.”

Poroshenko announced the tests of new missile military equipment in the near future.

“I hope that in the coming weeks we will personally demonstrate to society the successes of our missile technologies. Do not worry, this is only about tests and exercises,” he said.

According to the president, the missile program should become a symbol of changes in the country.

He recalled that in recent years, the efficiency of using anti-tank missile systems has increased, tests of Neptun cruise missiles have been conducted. “Look at how high-precision Vilha (Alder) rocket launcher system significantly increased its range,” Poroshenko said.