BERLIN - Germany said Monday it was rushing long-promised air defence systems, capable of protecting an entire city, to Ukraine after Russia unleashed a barrage of missile strikes on the country.
Calling the latest attacks "despicable", German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on Twitter that "we are doing everything to strengthen Ukraine's air defences".
Chancellor Olaf Scholz in June promised the highly modern Iris-T systems that he said were capable of shielding a large city from air raids.
Germany had earlier expected to deliver the first of several missile shield systems by year's end, but Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said the first would now be "ready for the effective protection of people in the coming days".
"The latest rocket strikes on Kyiv and many other cities clearly underline the importance of the rapid delivery of air defence systems to Ukraine," she added.
The Iris-T system has a shield range spanning a height of 20km and a breadth of 40km. The German army itself has Iris T-missiles in its inventory but not the complete surface-to-air system. It fires the missiles from Tornado or Eurofighter jets.
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Monday condemned Russia for launching the fatal bombardments across Ukraine, describing it as an "unacceptable escalation of the war", his spokesman said.
"The Secretary-General is deeply shocked by today's large-scale missile attacks by the armed forces of the Russian Federation on cities across Ukraine that reportedly resulted in widespread damage to civilian areas and led to dozens of people being killed and injured," Mr Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
"This constitutes another unacceptable escalation of the war and, as always, civilians are paying the highest price."
French President Emmanuel Macron said that the Russian air strikes signalled a "profound change" in the conduct of the war.
Speaking to reporters during a trip to the Mayenne region of France, he added that he would convene his diplomatic and military advisors when he returned to Paris. AFP
