You're reading: Poroshenko says Kyiv expects to get 1,240 Javelin missiles from US

Ukraine expects to receive 1,240 Javelin portable anti-tank missiles from the U.S., Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.

“We’re looking for just 1,240 Javelin missiles, and this is absolutely fair,” Poroshenko said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

According to Poroshenko, the number 1,240 has special significance as that was the number of nuclear warheads Ukraine gave up under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, signed by the U.S., the UK and Russia.

“Ukraine voluntarily gave up its nuclear arsenal and in exchange for that the United States of America and Great Britain promised to guarantee our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Poroshenko said.

Poroshenko said that Ukraine needs the solidarity of western countries to rebuff the Russian aggression in the east of the country.

“We aren’t demanding that British, American or French soldiers come here and fight for us… We’re doing this ourselves, paying the most difficult price – the lives of my soldiers. We need just solidarity,” Poroshenko said.

In his words, if the international community does not stop the Russian aggressor, global security doesn’t exist.

“Anytime, any plane or submarine can make a missile attack, including against the U.S.,” the president said.

The FGM-148 Javelin is a U.S.–made man-portable anti-tank missile, developed in 1986 and which entered into service with the U.S. army in 1996.