Warsaw (Reuters) – Ukraine proposed to build a joint air shield with its allies to protect itself from Russian threats, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said on Monday, after a series of incursions that aroused concern on the eastern NATO side.

NATO leaders said Russia was testing the alliance’s responsiveness and determination by these incursions to Poland and Baltic countries. Kyiv stresses that his experience in the fight against air threats would be precious.

“Ukraine offers Poland and all of our partners to build a common and completely reliable shield against Russian air threats,” he said during a visioconferencing speech to the Warsaw Security Forum.

“It is possible. Ukraine can counter all types of Russian drones and missiles and if we act together in the region, we will have enough weapons and production capacities,” he added.

Ukraine has already indicated that its soldiers and engineers will train their Polish counterparts in the fight against drones.

The question of defense cooperation with Kyiv was in good place on the agenda of managers gathered in Warsaw for this annual security forum.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said at the conference that European and Ukrainian defense industries must “collaborate more closely and more efficiently”.

“The European Union must support this approach by offering a much more flexible regulatory framework for the defense industry in Europe,” he added.

Following Russian incursions in NATO airspace, the countries on the side of the flank is the alliance agreed on the need for a “drone wall” with advanced detection, monitoring and interception capacities.

However, Boris Pistorius warned that his implementation would not be a quick process.

“We are not talking about a concept that will be produced in the next three or four years,” he said.

(Anna Koper and Barbara Erling in Warsaw, Olena Harmash in Kyiv, Kirsti Knolle in Berlin, written by Alan Charish; Noémie Naudin; edited by Augustin Turpin)

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