White House: US 'focusing on' air defense for Ukraine

The United States is "focusing a lot" on providing Ukraine with the air defense it needs to protect itself from Russian missile and drone attacks, White House National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby said during a press conference on May 4.

According to Kirby, Ukraine's military shot down the majority of cruise missiles Russia launched at Ukraine in the last 48 to 72 hours using U.S. and Western-provided air defense capabilities.

Russia has launched a series of mass drone and missile attacks at Ukraine over the last several days. Ukraine's Air Force has reported shooting down most of its targets.

Regarding Ukraine's anticipated spring counteroffensive, Kirby said that the U.S. does not know when Ukraine's counteroffensive will begin, but that it is confident the U.S. and its allies have done everything they can to make sure that Ukraine is ready.

According to Kirby, the U.S. has provided 98 percent of what Ukraine has asked for materially in order to go on the offensive, including armor, artillery, air defense, ammunition, and training for Ukrainian armed forces outside of the country.

"We’ve done everything we can.  That doesn’t mean that we’re going to stop. You’re going to see continued support from the United States going forward," he said.

"But — but as for the actual execution of any kind of spring counteroffensive, that’s going to be up to President Zelensky."