Air defence, missiles, artillery and drones. Italy prepares new military aid package for Ukraine - media

This was reported by Corierre della Sera.

The Italian media assures that Ukraine's air defence will be significantly strengthened, as the SAMP-T air defence missile system is called the European equivalent of the Patriot system. It has a range of 100 km and is capable of shooting down ballistic targets.

In addition to the previously announced long-range SAMP-T and medium-range Aspide, the Armed Forces will receive a certain amount of unannounced artillery.

According to the newspaper, the new aid package should also include a batch of Hero-30 ‘kamikaze’ drones with Israeli components. It is not known for certain whether Israel, which has previously refused to provide Ukraine with military assistance, has approved the transfer.

According to Corierre della Sera, this is the sixth decree of the Italian government on the provision of weapons to Ukraine, which Italy will adopt over the next two weeks. At the same time, the publication notes that the slogan among Western partners has changed: from "to help save them" to "to help them win."

"Italy will continue to fulfil its role in supporting the people of Ukraine under attack by Russia," Italian Deputy Defense Minister Matteo Perego assured.

He noted that cooperation with Kyiv would be less visible, but no less important.

"In addition to training the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Italy, Rome provides special assistance to the Ukrainian military working on the battlefield: their operations against the Russian forces are controlled "remotely" thanks to intelligence information and satellite systems," Perego said.

• On January 22, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said that the country, together with France, plans to transfer the SAMP-T anti-aircraft missile system to Ukraine. He also added that "other actions are planned, which we are working on in secrecy”.