At a time of maximum vulnerability for its critical infrastructure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sent an urgent letter to his American counterpart, Donald Trump. The document, transmitted through the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington and to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, as well as to members of Congress, contains an unequivocal warning: the country’s missile defense capability is on the verge of collapse due to the rapid depletion of ammunition for the Patriot systems.
According to an exclusive analysis published by Kyiv Independent, the leader from Kiev emphasizes that the current pace of Western arms deliveries can no longer keep up with the intensity of Russian attacks. Although Ukraine relies on the support of various European allies for conventional air defense, the United States remains the only partner capable of providing interception vectors against ballistic missiles.
The Strategy of Decay and the Bureaucratic Trap of Washington
Government officials from Kiev acknowledge, under the protection of anonymity, that the defensive arsenal is thinning much faster than it can be renewed, a direct consequence of Moscow’s tactic of launching massive, combined-type attacks.
In addition, the presidential letter highlights major dysfunctions within the PURL program (the mechanism through which allies can purchase American weaponry on behalf of Ukraine). Zelenski points out that this bureaucratic tool has remained stuck in a paradigm that no longer corresponds to the reality on the ground and the current level of threat, after the Russian Federation has exponentially multiplied the volume of drone and missile strikes.
“On behalf of the Ukrainian people, I respectfully request the President and Congress of the United States to continue cooperation and support us in securing this vital instrument of protection against Russian terror – the Patriot PAC-3 missiles and additional systems – in order to stop ballistic missile attacks”, the quoted fragment from the letter reads.
Air Front Pressure: The Figures of a Continuous Siege
The recent balance of aerial confrontations fully justifies the state of alert in Kiev. Only during the massive attacks on the night of May 24, the Russian forces launched a wave consisting of 90 cruise and ballistic missiles and approximately 600 attack drones.
This siege of proportions has forced the Ukrainian defense systems to operate continuously, exhausting strategic stocks that were already approaching a critical limit. Since spring, the Ukrainian president had requested the Air Force leadership for emergency measures to expedite supply channels with external partners, anticipating the current crisis. The situation is also confirmed by The Washington Post, which notes that Ukraine has almost completely run out of PAC-3 interceptors, the only ones capable of neutralizing “Kinzhal” and “Iskander” type hypersonic missiles.
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