By Editorial Dept - Aug 28, 2026, 7:30 AM CDT
The war with Iran has handed Russia a strategic advantage in Ukraine. Washington is burning through the weapons Europe needs to deter Russia, moving military capacity into the Gulf and simultaneously telling NATO governments to take over more of their own defense. CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew to Moscow this week precisely because of the connected nature of these two problems. He met Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin in the first known visit by a CIA director since William Burns traveled there in late 2021, just before Russia invaded Ukraine. Ratcliffe warned Moscow against attacking a NATO member and tried to bargain for support against Iran, likely using talks with Ukraine as bait. Washington asked Kyiv to suspend strikes during the visit. Trump has called the trip “semi-routine” and says he is not worried Russia will attack NATO, but the circumstances suggest otherwise. Air defense is the immediate challenge, with Patriot interceptor stocks in Europe “beyond critical”, depleted by the war in Iran. U.S. forces now have very limited ability to defend against even a single Russian ballistic missile strike, and there are not enough Patriots to absorb a sustained attack. The Pentagon and NATO may dispute that assessment or attempt to frame it in softer language, but there is no dispute that large numbers of interceptors have been moved out of Europe and used in the Middle East. It will take years to replace them at volume. Europe’s first Patriot…
