Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on allied countries to take the necessary steps to create an air defense network in Ukraine similar to Israel's.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Israel intercepted almost all the drones and missiles fired by Iran against the Jewish state.

"The whole world has seen what real defense means. It has seen that it is possible. And the whole world saw that Israel was not alone in this defense, since the air threat was also countered by allies," Zelenskyy said on Sunday night, referring to the neutralization of Iranian projectiles by Israel's allies from bases in the region.

The Ukrainian President recalled that last week Russia launched 130 Iranian Shahed drones, 80 missiles and around 700 guided aerial bombs against Ukraine.

These attacks again caused civilian casualties and destroyed or damaged several Ukrainian power stations, among other infrastructure.

"When Ukraine says that its allies should not turn a blind eye to missiles and drones, it means that action is needed," Zelenskyy reiterated, adding that the effectiveness of Israeli defenses demonstrated that "unity" among allies "provides the best defense."

What is Iron Dome?

Israel, as you know, has one of the best air defense systems in the world.

In fact, it has one of the best defense systems in the world overall - this was one of the surprising factors when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 last year.

Among the air defense systems, the Iron Dome stands out. As RTP recalls, this system was created in 2006, at the time of the conflict in Lebanon with Hezbollah - which killed dozens of Israelis through air strikes. It only began to be used five years later.

It essentially combats short-range weapons. It operates in any weather, uses radar to locate rockets, drones or missiles and can identify which ones are going to hit inhabited areas - in other words, it only stops devices that are going to hit people or buildings.

Israel has several batteries associated with the Iron Dome: each battery has three to four launchers that can fire 20 interceptor missiles. The missiles travel in an arc and, during their journey, destroy enemy missiles or drones.

Each Iron Dome interceptor, which is 3 meters long and 15 centimeters wide, costs around 40,000 euros. A complete system (radars, computers and three to four launchers) costs almost 100 million euros.

Israel has 10 Iron Dome systems in operation.

Another system, Arrow, serves to defend Israel from long-range weapons.