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Ukraine has asked 40 partner countries to urgently provide Patriot interceptor missiles during July in exchange for future deliveries already contracted for the country, the Ministry of Defense announced.
According to the ministry, intercepting ballistic missiles remains one of Ukraine's greatest air defense challenges due to a shortage of Patriot ammunition.
The ministry noted that in April, Ukraine signed a record contract for hundreds of PAC-2 missiles for Patriot systems with financial support from Germany. Deliveries under that agreement are expected to begin over the coming years.
Ukraine has also taken its first step toward purchasing around 100 additional Patriot missiles, valued at approximately $1 billion, using financing from a European Union loan. In addition, Kyiv has started receiving interceptor missiles from the stockpiles of partner nations for the first time this year.
Despite these efforts, the Defense Ministry stressed that current supplies remain insufficient.
"Ukraine urgently needs additional Patriot missiles. They are available in the stockpiles of our partners. The protection of Ukrainian skies now depends on rapid political decisions, expanding the PURL mechanism and purchasing missiles through the JUMPSTART program," the ministry said.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Air Force warned of a critical shortage of missiles for Patriot, NASAMS, and IRIS-T air defense systems, with some units reporting that their interceptor stocks are nearly exhausted.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously said Ukraine reached a political agreement to acquire additional Patriot systems. However, implementation has been delayed while financial, legal and technical issues are being resolved.
