Taiwan has become a key player in the war in Ukraine

Taiwan is said to have provided Ukraine with important anti-aircraft systems for its fight against Russia. For the small Asian country, it is also about sending a message to China, which threatens to invade it.

Christoph Cöln / t-online

Vladimir Putin signed a treaty of alliance with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. The commitment of North Korean troops on the front becomes reality in the Kursk region. The North Koreans are supporting what is believed to be an imminent counteroffensive, U.S. intelligence has reported. The number of North Korean troops deployed is uncertain, but could be as high as 12,000.

For Ukraine, the situation is likely to deteriorate. On the Donbass front there are strategic localities such as Pokrovsk and Kurakhove, where, according to the report of the American think tank Institute for the study of war (ISW), mechanized formations of the Russian army have carried out the assault in recent days . According to military experts, however, they were all able to be repelled.

About North Koreans:

Taiwanese surface-to-air missiles for kyiv

But kyiv could get help from unexpected support. According to the American magazine Forbeswhich refers to a former Pentagon official, Taiwan should help Ukraine by supplying MIM-23 Hawk air defense batteries.

These surface-to-air missiles are certainly not a recent system, the American army having put them into service for the first time in the 1960s, but they could bring important help to the country. In particular by deterring Russian air attacks, which bombard Ukrainian cities daily.

After American and Spanish deliveries

The statements of the former official of the American Department of Defense confirm information dating from 2023. Already at the time, there was talk of an air defense agreement between Taiwan and Ukraine, negotiated by the United States.

The delivery of Taiwanese air defense systems, as well as the corresponding launchers and radars, complement the Hawks already offered to Ukraine by the United States and Spain.

Ukraine reportedly has 15 Hawk batteries from the American company Raytheon, each consisting of at least six launchers for three missiles and corresponding radars. This makes a total of 90 launch pads allowing the simultaneous deployment of 270 anti-aircraft missiles.

A message for China

Their range should be between 25 and 40 kilometers. The great advantage of Hawk missiles is their very mobile launch pad. They would further be quite effective in repelling drones, slower cruise missiles and manned aircraft.

Forbes writes that the Hawk system could thus represent about a third of the Ukrainian air defense structure, if we deduct the combat losses suffered so far. Taiwan would thus have become, in complete discretion, an essential actor in the war in Ukraine.

While China appears to be doing little to prevent its North Korean ally from becoming actively involved in the war in Ukraine, the intervention of Taiwan, threatened by China, would create a new configuration for the conflict. And a way of telling her neighbor in search of power that she can also fight him, through intermediaries, thousands of kilometers away.

(Translated and adapted by Chiara Lecca)