Ukraine out of Patriot missiles as Russia hits Kyiv power plants

According to CNN, Ukraine has run out of missiles for its Patriot systems, one of the few weapons capable of shooting down ballistic missiles. A source at the network says that in the latest Russian strike almost no ballistic missile was intercepted, leaving the country more vulnerable.

Overnight on Wednesday, Russia hit three power plants in Kyiv and the surrounding region with ballistic missiles and also targeted energy infrastructure in Kharkiv. Four people were killed in the capital and another 15 were injured.

The Trump–Zelensky dispute

The missile shortage coincided with a sharpening public row between US President Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky. Last week the White House struck a heavily criticized deal on Russian oil (diesel) supplies, while putting increasing pressure on Kyiv to stop attacking Russian oil infrastructure.

Trump even announced an “energy truce”, but only Ukraine observed it. After two days of Russian attacks on Ukrainian power plants, Zelensky said he felt betrayed by Trump's arrangement with Vladimir Putin and announced that he would keep striking Russian refineries.

Nobody wants to give up their Patriots

For several months, Ukraine's president has been warning that the country's defenders are indeed running out of Patriot missiles. They are very expensive and in short supply worldwide: other countries, including the US, have either used up their stocks because of the war in Iran or are strengthening their own defenses and have no intention of parting with them.

In August, Zelensky told CNN that he spends his days making “millions” of calls to allies, trying to obtain new Patriot systems and missiles for them, and that Ukraine has only a tenth of the missiles it needs. A month later he was more optimistic, because Trump had promised to give Ukraine a US licence to produce them. But the American president ultimately backed away, and the licence never came.

Source: novinky.cz