The Washington Post quoted a Ukrainian official: Ukraine reached the last of its Patriot air defense missiles / by October 7th, only 10 missiles were left; These missiles were used during the attacks; Currently, only a few missiles remain / the situation is extremely critical; Civilians die every day
Ukraine has reached the last of its Patriot air defense missiles; A situation that leaves the country's population vulnerable to continued Russian attacks and has raised questions in Kiev about whether the Trump administration has turned its back on Ukraine.
The Washington Post wrote: Ukraine has reached the last of its Patriot air defense missiles; A situation that leaves the country's population vulnerable to continued Russian attacks and has raised questions in Kiev about whether the Trump administration has turned its back on Ukraine.
According to "Select" report; This article continues: A Ukrainian official told the Washington Post: "By October 7, only 10 missiles remained; These missiles were used during the attacks. "Right now, there are only a few missiles left."
Another person who knows about the deterioration of Ukraine's air defense said that the country no longer has access to these advanced weapons; Missiles that are critical for intercepting and destroying incoming Russian ballistic missiles.
This Ukrainian official said: "The situation is extremely critical. "Innocent civilians are losing their lives every day."
Both of them spoke to this newspaper on the condition of not revealing their names in order to reveal sensitive military information.
Patriot missile launchers are among the most demanded air defense systems in the world. At the same time, due to the widespread use of these systems in Ukraine and the Middle East, the stocks of missiles related to them have also been greatly reduced.
In the first month of the war with Iran alone, America fired more than a thousand Patriot and THAAD missiles to defend its forces.
It has also provided hundreds of Patriot missiles to Ukraine since the Joe Biden administration approved sending the Patriot system to Kiev in December 2022.
The cost of each Patriot missile, including the launch system and ground radars, is about one billion dollars, and the price of each missile can exceed four million dollars.
The intensity of conflicts on both fronts has greatly reduced the missile reserves of the United States and other countries in the world and brought them to a critical level. During the war with Iran, the United States transferred the Patriot systems from the Pacific region to strengthen its defense in the Middle East, and due to the pressure on the missile reserves, it postponed the future sales of these weapons to its allies, which it had previously promised.
The Trump administration has prioritized accelerating the process of purchasing and producing new Patriot interceptor missiles; But the production of a new missile may take up to 36 months.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly changed his position on sending more Patriot missiles to Ukraine in recent months. At one point in the summer, he even suggested that Ukraine would be allowed to produce these interceptor missiles on its own; But later, with a change of position, he threatened to cut off aid to the country in response to what he saw as the failure to advance peace talks.
US President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Trump recently announced that he would ease sanctions on Russian diesel fuel sales; A decision that faced severe criticism from both the Republican and Democratic parties in the United States.
Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday that restrictions placed without warning on Starshield, Elon Musk's SpaceX's secure satellite communications system, a critical piece of battlefield equipment, have increased the country's vulnerability to Russian missile attacks.
Musk did not deny the temporary restrictions on this system, but in a message on social networks, he said that such an action is only possible at the request of the US government.
This week, Trump announced that Moscow and Kiev had agreed to an "energy ceasefire" under which neither would target the other's energy infrastructure.
However, Ukraine says its energy infrastructure continues to be targeted by Russian drone strikes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in an interview with the Financial Times on Thursday that Ukraine will resume attacks on Russia's energy grid.
The United States supplies weapons to the country through a program known as the "Priority Ukraine Requirements List" (PURL). In the framework of this program, European countries pay for the weapons that Washington sends to Kiev.
However, the Washington Post previously reported that the Trump administration is considering moving some of this aid to the Middle East to make up for the lack of American weapons in the war with Iran.
A senior NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity about sensitive military coordination, said Thursday that the PURL program remains active and "air defense munitions, including Patriot interceptor missiles, are continuing."
However, the Ukrainian official expressed displeasure about the nature and process of these aids.
"Since May, shipments of weapons have been sent irregularly, and at this time no one can say with certainty or guarantee that a shipment will actually reach us," he said.
The lack of continuous support for Ukraine has caused the dissatisfaction of some Republicans in the US Congress; They believe that Washington should firmly stand by its ally.
On Thursday, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota met with Zelensky in Kyiv.
"Hearing the stories of young Ukrainians fleeing Russian-occupied territories was a powerful reminder of the importance of what's at stake," Kramer wrote in a message on social media. "We must stand by Ukraine."
CNN was the first media to report that Ukraine no longer has Patriot missiles.