Ukraine announced on Wednesday that its goal this year was to gain air supremacy in its war with Russia, but warned that victory still needed time and help from the West, AFP reported.

At the Davos Economic Forum, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, stated that “in 2024, the priority is to knock Russia out of the sky, because who will control the sky depends on when and how the war will end.”

“We beat them (the Russians) in 2022 on land, we beat them in 2023 at sea, and we are focusing on beating them in 2024 in the air,” he also stated.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but failed to capture Kyiv, later Russian troops were repulsed from the north, northeast and partially from the south. Last year, with the help of naval drones and missiles, the Ukrainians managed to break through the blockade imposed by the Russians on some Black Sea ports and restore part of their exports, especially grain.

Ukraine requires fighter jets and long-range missiles

Kuleba insisted that his country needed aircraft from the West to dominate the air; this year it will receive F-16, AFP reminds. Ukraine also requires long-range missiles, and so far the US and its European allies have provided a small number of such weapons so as not to provoke Russia. In a discussion group at an event in Switzerland, the minister added that Ukraine had “significantly” increased the production of drones.

Now, the Russians are attacking Ukrainian territory almost every night with drones and missiles launched from the ground, from the sea, or from the air. Western-sourced defense systems allow the Ukrainians to shoot down most of these weapons, but Kiev has warned that it will run out of ammunition unless it gets more from America and Europe.

“We are fighting a very powerful enemy, a very big enemy, an enemy that never sleeps. It takes time,” Kuleba admitted.

AFP estimates that Europeans and Americans are still delaying the arming of Ukraine in the context of their own internal political differences.

Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated on Tuesday that the very existence of the Ukrainian state is at stake, since the Ukrainian counteroffensive in 2023 failed to liberate the territories occupied by Russia. “Not only that their counteroffensive failed, the initiative is completely in the hands of the Russian armed forces. If this continues, then the status of the Ukrainian state may be dealt an irreparable and very serious blow,” the head of the Kremlin threatened.