MOSCOW, August 13. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky wants to receive 5% of US Patriot surface-to-air missile system stockpiles to ensure Ukraine survives the winter.
"[If the US] sell us 5%, we will go through the winter <...>. I have 1%," he said in an interview with CNN.
According to him, this year Ukraine received 2.5 times fewer interceptor missiles for Patriot systems than in 2025. Zelensky acknowledged that in order to obtain more missiles, he is trying to negotiate various deals, the content of which he declined to disclose. "This is what I live each day: from 1% to 5%. I have some months, and million phone calls <…> I try to exchange something to missiles <…> I do some things which I can't even share. It doesn't mean that it's outside of the law. But I can't speak about it," he said.
Zelensky still has no clarity on whether US President Donald Trump will agree to transfer licenses to Ukraine for independent production of Patriot missiles. "I hope that I will get it," Zelensky said. "I don't have now 5% and I don't have such an acceptance. And this is for me is a big challenge, one of the biggest I had from the very beginning of this war."
Zelensky admitted that he has begged the White House directly through calls and messages, as well as through allies, to increase supplies. He also confirmed that he recently held a telephone conversation with US Vice President JD Vance. However, he refused to say whether Vance demanded a halt to strikes on the infrastructure of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, as the Financial Times reported on August 12.
