Ukraine needs 5% of US Patriot stocks just to get through winter, Zelenskyy says

Published on 13/08/2026 - 17:48 GMT+2

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is calling on Washington to release a portion of the US Patriot interceptor stockpile, saying Ukraine needs 5% of the missiles simply to get through the winter and “save people’s lives.”

"If they 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," Zelenskyy said in an interview with CNN.

Kyiv currently only has 1% of what it needs, he said.

“From one percent to five percent, I have some months and millions (of) phone calls and anything else.”

Pressed on whether the US had responded to the request, he hinted at undisclosed diplomatic efforts.

"I do some things which I can't even share. It doesn't mean it's out of the law. But I can't speak about it.”

Ukraine has no more interceptors

The appeal comes as Russia has stepped up its bombardment of Kyiv, launching mass missile attacks roughly once a week that have killed civilians and destroyed homes.

In one such strike earlier this month, Ukrainian air defences failed to bring down a single one of the 28 ballistic missiles fired at the city.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine now has "two-and-a-half times less interceptors than we had in 2025," even as "Russia has two times more ballistic missiles per month than they had before."

Ballistic missiles are significantly harder to intercept than cruise missiles or drones because of their speed and steep flight path and Kyiv's stock of Patriot interceptors has been squeezed since the US and Israel went to war with Iran in the end of February, diverting supplies of the systems elsewhere.

Russia fired more than 450 missiles at Ukraine last month, nearly 200 of them on ballistic trajectories, part of a bombardment the UN has called the deadliest for civilians since the 2022 full-scale invasion began.