Kyiv —
Ukraine has only a tenth of the interceptor missiles it urgently needs from the United States to stop surging Russian ballistic missile attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN in an interview, adding his days are spent in “millions” of phone calls, in opaque deal-making with allies for more.
Russian ballistic attacks have risen fast in recent weeks, hitting the capital Kyiv particularly hard, as Moscow exploits Ukraine’s near-zero stocks of Patriot interceptor missiles. Zelensky said a tenth of the US current stockpile would be enough to stop all Russian ballistic missile attacks, but five per cent would be enough to get Ukraine through the winter.
“This year we have two and a half times less interceptors than we had in 2025,” he said. “Russia has two times more ballistic missiles per month than they had before.” July was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since April 2022, according to the United Nations. “Each night you have attacks, and four or five times per month we have massive attacks … terrible nights. Very heroic, very resilient people really. But they (are) tired.”
He added that if the US “sell us 5%, we will go through the winter and save people’s lives. If they can sell us 10%, we will destroy all the Russians’ ballistic missiles. I have 1%.”
