Wars are won by air defence

Ukraine discovered a long time ago that if it was going to defeat or at least keep at bay Russia's invading forces, they needed air defence, air defence, air defence. With drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles filling the skies, Kyiv's survival was going to depend on having the most advanced air defence systems to shoot them down. The US sent them Patriot missile batteries, though not enough. Kyiv must be very irritated that as soon as Israel needs air defence help to counter the barrage of missiles and drones from Iran, they get fantastic support not just from the US but from European countries and key Arab nations including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and Iraq. Which is why 99 per cent of the 300 Iranian drones and missiles were shot down. But, of course, the US and Europe can't physically help Ukraine destroy Russian air attacks, as they did for Israel. The Ukrainians have to do that themselves because none of Kyiv's allies in the West have dared or wanted to intervene in case it led to a full-scale war between Nato and Russia. Whereas the world and his wife have been able to go to Israel's aid because, hopefully, that is not going to lead to a bigger war. But the lesson from the Israel/Iran confrontation is obvious. Ukraine must be given a huge amount of extra air defence systems to knock out every missile and drone fired by the Russians. Right now, a helluva lot are getting through and destroying Ukraine's energy infrastructure. It's a disaster for the Ukrainians. Congress should get off its hands and approve the $60 billion aid package for Kyiv and start delivering more and more Patriots to confound that man in the Kremlin and ruin his ambition to bring Ukraine to its knees.