Ukraine is worried about a shortage of Patriot missiles due to the Middle East conflict

During the interview okay CNN Announced on April 22, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine has access to US-made weapons thanks to the Ukraine Priority Request List (PURL) program, in which NATO member countries buy these weapons for Kiev.

“Through the program, we can buy anti-ballistic missiles for the Patriot air defense system and a number of other important assets. Our European neighbors do not have those things. Of course, all these weapons packages are at risk because of the great challenge from the war in the Middle East,” he said.

Ukraine’s leader said the country only received a limited number of weapons due to limited US production capacity, although the supply has not been interrupted and Washington continues to share intelligence information with Kiev. “It will not be good if the conflict continues or the ceasefire is delayed. Perhaps we will face more risks in our efforts to combat ballistic weapons,” President Zelensky said.

He reiterated that Ukraine is sharing with Middle Eastern countries the experience accumulated over more than 4 years of dealing with Russian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), many of which are Geran models with designs originating from Iran. Ukraine has signed agreements with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“We will continue to cooperate with other countries. Ukraine is ready to share its expertise and support training missions,” Mr. Zelensky said.

Washington is said to have spent a large amount of ammunition in the conflict with Tehran. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimated on April 21 that the US military had fired nearly half of the Patriot air defense complex’s missile stockpile, as well as more than 50% of the ammunition for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD).

In addition, US forces also consumed about 45% of new generation PrSM ballistic missiles, 20% of JASSM stealth cruise missiles, 30% of SM-3 long-range air defense missiles and at least 10% of SM-6 ammunition during the conflict. About 27% of the Tomahawk cruise missiles in the stockpile have also been fired.

CSIS estimates it will take the US 1-4 years to restore missile stockpiles to pre-conflict levels.

Ukraine has long faced a shortage of missiles for the Patriot system. In an interview published by German media on April 14, President Zelensky revealed that this situation “cannot get any worse.” A Ukrainian Patriot unit commander said they currently only fire one projectile to deal with each Russian missile, instead of 2-4 as standard air defense doctrine.