Ukraine could join Baltic airspace protection in future - Defense Ministry
In the future, in order to prepare Ukraine for NATO membership, the latter could join the defense of the Baltic airspace.
This was stated by the head of the Department of International Defense Cooperation of the Ministry of Defense, Colonel Hennadii Kovalenko, Censor.NET reports citing Espresso.
Thus, at the Via Carpatia 2024 forum, he listed six strategic lessons for NATO.
The first lesson is the deployment of additional personnel. Currently, eight battlegroups are planned for Eastern European countries.
"Today we already have 4 of them in three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland). Another 4 combat groups are planned to be deployed in Hungary, Slovakia and Romania. Ukraine could join this process, in particular, Ukrainian NCOs and officers could learn from the experience of the Baltic states and Poland in deploying NATO forces in other countries. This includes studying the legal framework, logistical support, etc. In this direction, we are actively working on the concept of supporting countries that host NATO forces to prepare Ukraine for possible accession," Kovalenko said.
According to him, the second lesson for NATO and the EU is the development of remote aerial surveillance.
"NATO has decided to deploy AWACS systems in Romania and Poland, and in this context, Ukraine can play an important role in the deployment of these forces and means that we will receive from our Swedish partners," the Defense Ministry representative explained.
The third lesson concerns airspace control.
"I myself was a Ukrainian officer who studied in Estonia in 2003-2004, where we took part in the Zoknai and Shauliai exercises. Back then, we were studying the possibility of deploying air forces in Lithuania. Currently, the Baltic states have air policing missions in Estonia and Lithuania, and Ukraine could assist in exchanging data with our existing or future fleets, such as F-16s," Kovalenko said.
The fourth is coordinated defense forces. This is one of NATO's most important lessons.
"NATO is actively studying the strategy of defense against missiles and air threats, and we are working on the integration of future air defense systems," he emphasized.
"The fifth lesson is the ability to strike at long range. Ukraine not only accepts assistance from NATO, but can also provide valuable data and its platforms for the use of NATO missiles. And the last lesson is the fight against cyber and information threats. We are actively cooperating with the Tallinn Cybersecurity Center and the Riga Training Center," Kovalenko summarized.
