Zelensky says Ukraine needs 5% of US Patriot interceptors to survive winter and 10% to stop Russia’s ballistic missile attacks.

Ukraine has only about one-tenth of the US interceptor missiles it needs to counter rising Russian ballistic attacks, Zelensky said, adding that he is working with allies to secure more.

Ukraine Faces a Critical Interceptor Shortage

Russian ballistic missile attacks have surged in recent weeks, hitting Kyiv especially hard. Zelensky says Ukraine’s Patriot supply is nearly depleted, and 10% of the US stockpile could stop all Russian ballistic attacks, while 5% could help Ukraine survive the winter.

 “This year we have two and a half times less interceptors than we had in 2025,” he said. “Russia has two times more ballistic missiles per month than they had before.” July was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since April 2022, according to the United Nations.

“Each night you have attacks, and four or five times per month we have massive attacks … terrible nights. Very heroic, very resilient people really. But they (are) tired.”

He added that if the US “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. I have 1%.”

There is a worldwide lack of missiles because of the war between the US and Iran. During the conflict, the US and Gulf countries used many missiles against Iranian attacks, worsening shortages that have hit Ukraine hardest as Russian strikes intensify.

Before the White House statement

A White House official said in a statement that the US government “is currently exploring several potential pathways for future defense industrial cooperation with Ukraine.”

The official added, “These discussions are in the exploratory phase; no specific industrial cooperation initiatives have been decided upon or guaranteed at this stage.”

The official emphasized the importance of America protecting its advanced weapons systems. “We must prioritize protecting these exquisite systems and expanding overall production of critical weapons systems for the U.S. warfighter and for our partners and allies.”

Zelensky offered a rare look at his personal work every day to get more interceptors, which included negotiating deals he wanted to keep private.

“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.”

Ukraine’s Push to Build Patriot Missiles

Zelensky mentioned that there are still questions about how President Donald Trump's seeming support for allowing Ukraine to develop its own Patriot missile interceptors will actually happen.

At the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump said he would allow Ukraine to produce the advanced interceptors itself, but days later expressed doubts about the plan. Patriot manufacturers have since sent representatives to Kyiv, but no clear solution has been found.

“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 said he was asking the White House directly, through phone calls, messages, and also through his allies, to increase the support they are providing with the Patriot system. But he was not willing to give more information about his recent conversations with the Trump administration.

He said he recently spoke with Vice President JD Vance but gave no details, as reported by the Financial Times, about whether Vance asked Ukraine to stop attacking a Russian oil port in the Black Sea, which was hurting US companies and potentially driving up global energy prices.

Kyiv has also introduced new ideas for the peace talks led by Trump, which have seemed to slow down in the past few months. Zelensky did not give any details but said.

“We need more involvement of the American side to the peace plan. I’m thankful to the team of President Trump that they want to continue. (Russian President Vladimir) Putin doesn’t want to stop this war now and (there’s) not enough pressure on him now.”

He also said he would not agree to Ukraine giving up the other areas in Donbass that Putin wants to take, and he stressed that security promises are still very important for Kyiv.

“Russia begins to speak about this war, and they speak about territory. The key question is why he will not come again with 1 or 2 additional million soldiers after a big pause. Why he will not come again to occupy us?”

Zelensky Warns Russia Could Expand the War

Zelensky said he agrees with some Western views that Putin might try to make the war bigger by attacking the smaller NATO countries in the Baltic region.

“He doesn’t know how to end this war without big occupation or big victory for his society. It’s more simple to find some smaller country … for him, it will not be important if this country is in NATO or not in NATO. He wants quick victory, 100% sure that he will win, occupy or destroy or control.”