Editor's note: this article has been updated with new information.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Canada will contribute technology to Ukraine’s European FREYJA anti-ballistic defense program and provide additional military assistance as Russia maintains near-constant ballistic missile and drone attacks.

Russia has ramped up ballistic missile attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent months, increasingly combining them with large waves of drones and other weapons. The strikes have damaged civilian infrastructure and caused growing casualties, while Ukraine faces a shortage of the air defense systems and interceptor missiles needed to counter the evolving threat.

Zelenskyy made the announcement on 10 September during a visit to Canada, where he met Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. He said the talks focused on winter support, energy, Ukraine’s financial needs, and defense cooperation.

“Mark assured me that Canada is ready to join our European anti-ballistic program FREYJA with its technologies,” Zelenskyy said. “This is a necessary and timely step.”

Zelenskyy also said Canada had made an “important decision” on a major air defense assistance package, adding that there is a global shortage of air defense systems and missiles.

Update: Canada and Ukraine sign 100-year partnership declaration

Update 23:00: Zelenskyy and Carney also signed a declaration establishing a 100-year partnership between Ukraine and Canada, setting out long-term cooperation between the two countries.

Zelenskyy said that Ukraine and Canada had reached agreements worth more than $2 billion, including more than $1 billion in government defense assistance.

Canada will also contribute $40 million to a new Ukrainian veterans fund, while the two countries reached agreements on energy cooperation ahead of winter.

Zelenskyy said Canada’s support will strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses and its fighter aircraft, including those being used to intercept Russia’s jet-powered Geran drones. He added that 21 Ukrainian pilots are currently training in Canada.

Russia is changing its aerial attacks

The additional air defense comes as Russia has significantly expanded and adapted its aerial campaign against Ukraine.

Russia is launching increasingly large waves of drones, including faster versions of the Shahed/Geran attack drone, while combining them with ballistic and other missiles. The changing speed, volume, and composition of attacks are putting greater pressure on Ukraine’s air defenses and interceptor stocks.

Zelenskyy said he had also discussed with Carney Russia’s “virtually constant” strikes with ballistic missiles and drones.

The Russian attacks increasingly reach deep into Ukraine, targeting cities, energy facilities, transport and logistics infrastructure, and industrial sites far from the front line.

That makes layered air defense increasingly important. Ukraine needs systems capable of intercepting different types of threats, from relatively slow attack drones to much faster ballistic missiles.

Air defense becomes critical ahead of winter

The need for additional air defense is particularly urgent as Ukraine approaches another winter under Russian attack. Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s energy system during previous winters, damaging power generation and distribution and threatening electricity, heating, and water supplies.

Ukraine therefore needs not only more interceptor missiles but additional systems and technologies capable of dealing with the increasingly complex mix of Russian aerial weapons.

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Zelenskyy said Canada would also provide additional defense supplies and that the two countries were working on a broader “Drone Deal” covering defense cooperation.

He thanked Canada for its support throughout the war, saying Ukraine needs to remain strong to achieve a “strong and lasting peace.”

Ukraine has nearly run out of the one weapon that reliably stops Russia's ballistic missiles, and no replacement is close, according to The Economist. Now it is betting on cheaper homemade interceptors—and on hitting Russian missiles before they launch.

Russia has spent this year rebuilding its arsenal around the weapons Ukraine can least often intercept and aiming them at cities and the power grid, so the race to field cheap defenses will help decide how many people survive another winter of strikes.

Ukraine's homemade bet

Kyiv is building its own answer. The pan-European Freyja project, led by Ukrainian firm Fire Point with 12 European defense companies, aims for an interceptor near $700,000. That is a fraction of a $7 million export Patriot round. The second track is "left-of-launch": hitting the factories and launchers before missiles fly. In March, Ukraine struck a Bryansk plant making Iskander components. It also hopes to add its own Sapsan and FP-series missiles within months, though catching Russia's mobile launchers is a tall order.

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Faster drones, less warning

Russia sends waves of jet-powered Geran-4 and -5 drones to swamp Ukrainian radar, then fires ballistic missiles behind them. The drones fly at up to 600 kph, and 3,000 leave Russian factories each month. Over five days to 1 September, Russia hit Kyiv almost hourly. The barrage paused on 6 September for the visit of American envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, who had just met Putin in Moscow. The day after they left, Russia killed three civilians. Ukraine's F-16s, meanwhile, are running low on the American air-to-air missiles they need against cruise missiles.

The shield is empty

Ballistic missiles are the class of Russian weapon Ukraine's air defenses stop least often, which is why Brussels recently cleared Ukraine to spend EU loan money on American interceptors for the winter, and why a cheaper homemade fix carries so much weight.

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1,000 Patriot missiles arrive too late for this winter, so Ukraine asked the Ramstein arms coalition to open its warehouses

Of 57 ballistic missiles fired in the first eight days of August, Ukraine intercepted only one. Kyiv has almost nothing left of the PAC-3, the one interceptor that reliably downs them. Russia now turns out about 100 of its deadliest missiles a month, 60 of them Iskander-Ms. Resupply looks unlikely, because US President Donald Trump's war on Iran drained America's own Patriot stocks, and no ally wants to give up interceptors it cannot replace.