Ukraine seeks up to 120 Patriot missiles monthly, Zelenskyy says

Ukraine needs between 100 and 120 Patriot interceptor missiles each month during the winter to help defend against Russian ballistic missile attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with DW.

Zelenskyy said Russia is currently producing about 140 ballistic missiles a month. Under NATO rules, he said, roughly twice as many interceptor missiles — around 280 a month — would be required to destroy that number of targets.

“You will never have 280 missiles per month, and between us, it’s a huge challenge to have [even] 100 missiles per month. This is what I want. I want to have 100-120 for these difficult months, especially the cold months,” Zelenskyy said.

He acknowledged that Ukraine has been struggling to counter Russia’s increasing use of jet-propelled drones, adding to the pressure on its air-defence capabilities.

The Patriot system is considered one of the most effective available defences against Russian ballistic missile attacks. Zelenskyy said the United States had the political will to supply Ukraine with additional systems and missiles, but production capacity and existing stockpiles remained a constraint.

“They [US] have political will to sell and to help, but the production is not too big. So it means that stocks is a variant,” he said.

“Will Americans be ready to give us (Patriots)? I don’t know. We will see.”

Germany said earlier this week that it would provide Patriot missiles from its national stockpile, although Berlin did not specify how many missiles it would send.

Zelenskyy called on Ukraine’s European allies to provide as much additional support as possible.

“They have to give as much as possible. With all respect to them, they have to give to Ukrainians to save their lives,” he said.

The Ukrainian president also said Kyiv had reached agreements with several European companies to develop a Ukrainian-led anti-missile system known as Freya.

He said he hoped the system’s first testing phase would begin by the end of December, stressing that time was running short.

Despite the challenges facing Ukraine’s air defences, Zelenskyy said the country was currently in a “good position for negotiations.”

“The country is stronger than it was a year ago,” he said.

By Tamilla Hasanova