Politico: EU's Kubilius admits decline in Patriot systems' effectiveness in Ukraine

EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius has admitted that the effectiveness of Patriot air defense systems against Russian ballistic missiles has decreased, he told Politico.

According to Kubilius, at the beginning of 2025, the Patriot systems were “about 40% effective,” but Russia has since modernised its ballistic missiles.

“To counter ballistic missiles, the Ukrainians typically used Patriot systems. <…> Now they are capable of changing trajectory, so the effectiveness has decreased,” the commissioner said.

He also noted that to intercept a single Russian ballistic missile, Ukraine now needs to use approximately two to three Patriot PAC-III systems.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the BBC that Ukraine is facing a shortage of missiles for Patriot air defence systems. Analysts cited by RBC-Ukraine point out that the Patriot remains the only air defence system in Ukraine capable of shooting down ballistic missiles, and there is no official data on such interceptions by Franco-Italian SAMP/T systems.