Ukraine Faces Severe Shortage of Patriot Missiles Amid Record Civilian Casualties

Crews operating Ukraine's Patriot air defence systems have gone weeks without interceptor missiles to shoot down Russian ballistic strikes. That's according to footage filmed by television journalists granted access to one of the batteries, on condition that its exact location remain undisclosed.

The unit's lead engineer, identified only as Dmitriy for security reasons, told reporters he hadn't witnessed a single interceptor launch in six weeks. The position near a cornfield that journalists were allowed to visit hadn't fired in ten weeks.

"It's a truly frightening thing to witness — you have the equipment, but you can't take down a single missile," Dmitriy admitted. "Ballistic missiles are flying overhead, and there's nothing you can do about it. And all the while you know civilians behind you are under attack."

July Was the Deadliest Month Since 2022

Because of these Russian strikes, July became the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since May 2022. According to the UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, at least 437 people were killed and 2,610 wounded.

Patriot is one of the few systems in the world capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, making it a cornerstone of Ukraine's air defence against daily Russian attacks.

Ukrainian forces first ran out of Patriot interceptors in December 2025. "It's hard to describe — it's a horrible feeling," Dmitriy said. "It's like knowing how to walk but being unable to take a step. Knowing how to breathe but being unable to draw a breath."

Iran's War With the US Made the Shortage Worse

The situation improved somewhat afterward, but a fresh global shortage of Patriot missiles emerged following their heavy use in the Persian Gulf in March and April — largely to shoot down cheap Iranian drones during US operations.

"We expected to run into problems. But we were shocked by how many missiles were fired at once — the very ones we could have used against Russian ballistic missiles," Dmitriy said.

According to the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), coalition forces used an average of 225 interceptor missiles per day during the first four days of the conflict with Iran. Lockheed Martin, meanwhile, produced just 620 such missiles in all of 2025. In January, the Pentagon signed a seven-year deal with the manufacturer to boost annual output to 2,000 missiles by 2030 — a timeline that may prove too late for Ukraine.

A Trump Promise That Fell Through

Hope emerged when US President Donald Trump promised his Ukrainian counterpart a license to produce Patriot interceptors domestically. But the White House soon walked back that pledge, and even refused to supply Ukraine with PAC-3 missiles, with Trump saying: "We need those missiles ourselves."

Ukraine has not disclosed exactly how many Patriot missiles it has left. President Zelensky has said the country needs ten percent of US stockpiles to get through the winter — but currently has access to just one percent.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz