Ukraine asks the United States for 5% of its Patriot stockpile: The winter ordeal
Ukraine continues to pressure the United States to obtain interceptor missiles capable of countering Russian ballistic attacks ahead of the difficult winter period.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country needs 5% of the United States’ stockpile of Patriot interceptor missiles to get through the winter, and 10% of that stockpile to destroy all Russian ballistic missiles.
In recent weeks, Russia has launched intensive missile attacks on Kyiv at a rate of roughly one barrage per week, killing civilians and damaging homes and critical infrastructure.
In one of the attacks, Ukraine failed to intercept any of the 28 missiles launched by Russia.
In an interview with the American network CNN, published on Thursday, Zelensky said Ukraine’s stockpiles of interceptor missiles available this year had fallen by two and a half times compared with the same period in 2025.
“Russia has twice as many ballistic missiles every month as it used to have,” he said, calling on his “American partners” to “sell us 5% of the missiles in their stockpiles.”
He continued: “If they sell us 5% of them, we will be able to get through the winter and save people’s lives. If they can sell us 10%, we will be able to destroy all Russian ballistic missiles.”
Ukraine says it has been suffering from a severe shortage of Patriot missiles since the outbreak of the war in Iran in February.
Because of their speed and steep trajectories, ballistic missiles are much more difficult to intercept. They can only be brought down by advanced systems, foremost among them the American-made Patriot system.
Asked about Washington’s position on his requests, Zelensky said: “So far, the answer is: later. We have received 1%.”
In a related development, the Ukrainian Air Force announced on Wednesday that it would stop publishing detailed figures on Russian ballistic missile strikes, as it faces increasing difficulties in intercepting the growing number of aerial attacks.
According to Ukrainian data, Russia launched more than 450 missiles of various types at Ukraine in July, including around 200 missiles that followed ballistic trajectories.
During the latest attacks on Kyiv, air-raid sirens sounded almost simultaneously with the strikes.
Russia has used the Oreshnik missile, a medium-range hypersonic weapon, against Ukraine on a limited number of occasions. Those attacks were viewed as a signal of Moscow’s readiness to escalate the conflict. However, shorter-range systems such as the Iskander missile have remained the Russian military’s primary weapon.
Ukrainian officials also say that Russian forces have resumed using S-400 air-defense missiles as ballistic missiles to strike Ukrainian targets.
