Ukraine faces critical Patriot shortage, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (photo: Getty Images)
Ukraine currently faces a critical shortage of Patriot air defense systems. If the war drags on, Kyiv will have even fewer weapons, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Welt reports.
The head of state expressed dissatisfaction with the negative impact of the war with Iran on peace efforts and weapons supplies to Ukraine.
"They are constantly in contact with Iran, and they have no time for Ukraine," he stressed, referring to US negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff.
In addition, Zelenskyy reported a critical shortage of Patriot air defense systems.
"We now have such a shortage, it cannot get worse," he emphasized.
The president added that Ukraine will have even fewer weapons if the war continues.
Shortage of missiles for Patriot
After the start of the operation in Iran, Israel and its allies used about 800 Patriot missiles to intercept Iranian targets. For comparison, Kyiv has received about 600 such missiles over the entire period of the full-scale war.
For this reason, the Pentagon has already appealed to the White House to approve a request to Congress for more than 200 billion dollars to finance the war against Iran. This indicates the scale of the US needs and the rapid growth of costs for conducting the campaign.
Estimates show that in the first 12 days of the operation in Iran, the US used up stocks of high-precision weapons that had been accumulated for years. Their replenishment will require a very long time.
Yesterday, Ukraine and Germany agreed on a large-scale cooperation package worth 4 billion euros. It envisions the transfer of several hundred missiles for Patriot air defense systems to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Pentagon signed the largest contract with Lockheed Martin worth 4.7 billion dollars, which provides for accelerated production of interceptor missiles for Patriot air defense systems.
