Zelensky: Ukraine needs 5% of US Patriot missile stockpiles to survive the winter, and 10% to destroy all Russian ballistic missiles

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 5% of the current American stockpile of “Patriot” interceptor missiles would help Ukraine get through the winter and save lives, and 10% would be enough to stop all Russian ballistic missiles.

He said this in an interview with CNN.

According to Zelensky, Ukraine currently has only 1% of the required number of “Patriot” interceptor missiles. In 2026, the country will receive 2.5 times fewer missiles than in 2025, while Russia launches twice as many ballistic missiles per month.

According to the United Nations, July was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since April 2022.

"There are attacks every night, four or five times a month we have massive attacks... terrible nights. Very heroic, very resilient people. But they are tired," Zelensky said.

The president said he is trying to negotiate with allies every day to supply additional missiles. He says he is making “millions of phone calls” and conducting negotiations, some of which he cannot disclose publicly.

At the same time, Zelensky noted that agreements with the Donald Trump administration on the possibility of producing Patriot missiles in Ukraine still have not been finalized. He called the current situation one of the biggest challenges since the start of the full-scale war.

Separately, the president said that Russia is not currently showing any willingness to end the war, and that the United States should be more actively involved in the peace process. He also rejected the possibility of transferring territories in Donbas to Russia without proper security guarantees.

Patriot missiles for Ukraine

On July 29, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that during his last meeting with Trump at the White House, he asked him to provide Ukraine with an emergency “winter package” of 300 Patriot interceptor missiles. The media reported that Trump refused, in part, due to the shortage of these missiles in the United States.

Later, at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council on August 5, Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine had received a refusal from its partners to transfer additional anti-ballistic missile systems. He did not rule out that this could be in order for Ukraine to become “more compliant.”

According to the president, in the first half of 2026, the supply of missiles for Ukraineʼs air defense from partners decreased by three times compared to last year. The official reason, which the partners informed Kyiv, was the hostilities in the Middle East. Trump also stated that the United States itself needs these missiles.

In early July, at the NATO summit in Ankara, the US president announced that Washington would grant Kyiv a license to produce Patriot missiles. However, he later noted that the US “has to be very careful” about allowing Ukraine to produce Patriot missiles. As of July 31, he had not yet made a final decision on whether to grant Ukraine such licenses.

The Telegraph reported that Trump changed his decision to transfer Patriot missile production licenses to Ukraine due to concerns that these technologies could fall into Russian hands.

On August 5, Reuters reported that despite Trumpʼs public statements, US Vice President J.D. Vance assured the Ukrainian leadership in a telephone conversation that the agreements remained in effect.

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