CNN: Ukraine is almost out of Patriot missiles
Ukraine's stockpile of Patriot missile interceptors designed for U.S. air defense systems has been sharply depleted. Ukrainian officials who spoke to CNN said the country has almost run out of such missiles. The problem is becoming more serious as Russia's ballistic missile attacks increase.
CNN reported on August 17 that Ukraine has run out of missiles for its Patriot air defense systems. This information was provided to the channel by Ukrainian officials.
CNN reporters were shown 16 Patriot missile launchers in Ukraine, which showed signs of regular use. However, according to the chief engineer who maintains these complexes, he has not seen the Patriot systems used once in the past six weeks.
This situation is observed at a time when Russia has intensified air and missile strikes on Ukraine in recent months. In particular, Kiev has also been periodically targeted with ballistic missiles.
On August 5, Kiev reported that it was not possible to shoot down any of the 28 ballistic missiles launched by Russia. The Ukrainian side explained this by the lack of the necessary air defense equipment.
According to Politico, the shortage primarily concerns the PAC-3 and PAC-2 missiles for the Patriot system. They are among Ukraine's most effective means of countering Russia's high-speed ballistic missiles.
**How many Patriot missiles does Ukraine have left?**
The Ukrainian government has not disclosed exactly how many Patriot missile interceptors the country has left.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with CNN on August 13 that 5 percent of the Patriot missiles in the US stockpile would be enough for Ukraine to get through the winter.
According to Zelensky, if the US sells 10 percent of its missiles to Ukraine, Kiev would be able to shoot down all of Russia's ballistic missiles.
"I have 1 percent," Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian president also noted that Kiev has only a few months left to get the necessary number of Patriot missiles.
He said that Ukraine will have 2.5 times fewer interceptors in 2026 than last year. At the same time, Russia is using more than twice as many ballistic missiles every month than before.
**The war in Iran has exacerbated the shortage**
According to CNN, global problems with the supply of Patriot missiles intensified in March-April, after the active use of them by the United States and Israel during the war against Iran.
According to the Foreign Policy Research Institute, which CNN relies on, in the first four days of the war in Iran, coalition forces spent a huge amount of interceptors. This increased pressure on existing stocks and the ability to produce new missiles.
According to analysts' calculations, Lockheed Martin produced 620 interceptors for Patriot during 2025. This is an average of 1.7 missiles per day.
Therefore, there is a huge gap between the high rate of missile consumption in combat and the volume of their production.
In January, the Pentagon signed a seven-year contract with Lockheed Martin. According to it, it is planned to increase the production capacity of Patriot missiles to 2,000 per year.
**Can Ukraine produce Patriot missiles on its own?**
The CNN material also mentioned the issue of the production of Patriot missiles in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump said at the NATO summit in Ankara that Washington would grant Kiev a license to produce missile interceptors for the Patriot air and missile defense systems.
However, later, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said that a long-term production agreement would not be signed until the winter, and the production of the first missiles in Ukraine would take even longer.
Later, Trump said that the issue of granting Ukraine a license to produce Patriot missiles was not yet resolved and that negotiations were ongoing.
On August 6, Trump responded to Zelensky's calls for more Patriot missiles to be delivered to Ukraine, saying, "We need missiles too."
Gustav Gressel, an associate professor at the National Defense Academy of the Austrian Armed Forces and a military expert, told DW that he doubted that Ukraine would receive a license to produce Patriot missiles anytime soon.
He believes that Ukraine was initially overly optimistic on this issue. The expert said that even in the best-case scenario, it could take 4-5 years for Ukraine to receive a license to produce PAC-2 missiles.