KYIV. Oct 24 (Interfax) - With the United States and Russia having quit the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, Ukraine will do well to focus on creating its own arsenal of missiles or, at least, devise a strategy for developing such weapons, Volodymyr Horbulin, head of the supervisory board at Ukraine's Institute of National Security Problems and First Vice President of the National Academy of Sciences, said.
"A symmetrical option would involve creating our own arsenal of intermediate- and shorter-range missiles in order to obtain the necessary deterring effect. A second option is to concentrate on implementing a compromise-based solution taking into account our current defense developments, and above all to devise a strategy for the development of rocket-missile armament," Horbulin said in Kyiv on Thursday at a roundtable entitled "Ukraine: Major non-NATO ally status. Opportunities for military-technical cooperation and defense potential development."
Ukraine is not bound by any constraints on the range of missiles necessary to provide its security in a new environment, he said.
The danger is that intermediate- and shorter-range missiles can reach their target within minutes, leaving the adversary with no chance to prepare and strike back, Horbulin said.
For Ukraine, the status of a strategic ally would provide big opportunities for military-technical cooperation with the U.S., he said. "Washington could support these - and not only - missile opportunities for our defense industry. The result could be not only the political encouragement, which we get continuously and are already getting slightly tired of, but also practical assistance for Ukraine in achieving NATO standards and the large-scale operation of big U.S. defense companies in Ukraine," he said.