Allies have supplied just a third of the air defence missiles to Ukraine in 2026 compared with 2025, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday, as Russia escalates strikes on the capital of Kyiv and the country's southern port hub.
The president also warned that Moscow is seeking to significantly accelerate its ballistic missile production ahead of winter, when it is expected to renew its campaign against the energy sector.
Ukraine has been short on U.S.-made Patriot interceptors capable of downing Russian ballistic missiles since the start of the war. But in recent weeks, the acute shortage has come into focus, with Moscow pummelling Kyiv, on average, every three days in July alone.
"And this is not just a summer phenomenon — it applies to every period of the first half of 2026," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app, addressing the decline in deliveries.
Zelenskiy said the shortage was mainly caused by war in the Middle East, but he did not rule out that the stalled supplies were "aimed at making Ukraine, so to speak, more willing to compromise" in peace talks with Russia.
In what has become a pattern in recent weeks, Ukrainian air defences failed to intercept a single one of the 24 ballistic missiles and four Zircon cruise missiles fired during Wednesday's attack, the air force said.
WAR OF ATTRITION
Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine's president on the development of defence technology, estimates that Russia is capable of launching 100 ballistic missiles every month to attack logistic hubs, industrial facilities, food and building warehouses.
"The war of attrition has entered its next phase," he said on the Telegram app.
In addition to its own capabilities, Russia again turned to the deployment of North Korean missiles. Last week, Moscow's troops fired the first two North Korean missiles since last August, Ukraine said.
A North Korean missile unit has begun deploying to western Russia and could be equipped with 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers, according to Ukraine's military intelligence. Moscow and Pyongyang did not comment on the matter.
With interceptor stocks limited across the globe and political volatility affecting supplies, one possible way for Ukraine to counteract is to target Russian missile launchers, some military analysts said.
"The military knows that they need to reduce the enemy's launchers, thereby reducing the attacks on Ukraine... That's what they're working on," Zelenskiy added.
Ukraine's current capabilities do not permit such strikes.
Kyiv is also pressing allies to develop a pan-European anti-ballistic system and has sought a licence from the U.S. to produce Patriot missiles itself.
