Ukraine will soon receive a new package of PAC-3 Patriot interceptor missiles, but the persistent shortage has forced Kyiv to “squeeze” additional interceptors from partner countries, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Zelensky said in an interview with journalist Ramina Eshakzai on Thursday that one package of PAC-3 missiles will arrive “soon” without specifying the timeline or the quantity expected.
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“One package will come soon. I won’t say when. We have agreed on one PAC-3 package,” he said.
According to Zelensky, NATO’s Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) program, in which countries bankroll the purchase of US weaponry for Kyiv, guarantees a fixed number of interceptor missiles each month.
However, he said the deliveries fall far short of Ukraine’s needs, as Russia launches roughly twice as many ballistic missiles as interceptor missiles fielded by Kyiv – as shown in the July 6 attack on Kyiv, when none of the 29 Russian ballistic missiles were intercepted.
“That’s why there are alternative packages that we don’t talk about publicly, when you literally ‘squeeze’ missiles from different countries. We collect 5, 10 or 20 missiles at a time from each partner so Ukraine can survive,” he said.
Currently, PAC-3 Patriot missiles – the most advanced and sought-after model – are produced only in the US and under license in Japan. Germany, meanwhile, manufactures older PAC-2 variants domestically, with some scheduled for delivery to Ukraine from 2027 under a €4 billion ($4.7 billion) deal signed in April.
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Zelensky said Ukraine’s long-term solution is to develop an alternative to the PAC-3 interceptor.
“In the coming weeks, perhaps even within a week, we will try to bring together the countries participating in the anti-ballistic coalition. They are already producing components for our future Freya anti-ballistic system,” he said.
The remarks came after Wednesday’s NATO summit in Ankara, where US President Donald Trump said Washington would allow Ukraine to produce Patriot missiles under license.
He also expressed interest in expanding cooperation on drones, an area in which Ukraine excelled after Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Trump also said he would not rule out helping protect Ukrainian airspace if a peace agreement with Russia is reached.
Ukraine has appealed for more Patriot missiles for months, saying that the interceptors – one of the few in Kyiv’s arsenal capable of shooting down high-speed Russian missiles – are in critical shortage.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had taken note of Trump’s comments about potentially helping protect Ukraine’s skies.
Peskov also confirmed that Trump did not call Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 8, despite having previously said he intended to.
“Trump was obviously busy yesterday and did not call Putin, but the Russian president is always happy to talk,” Peskov said.
He added that Moscow does not view Trump’s remarks on allowing Ukraine to strike deeper into Russian territory as an escalation, describing them instead as “misconceptions of the US leadership.”
Commenting on Trump’s suggestion that the US could help protect Ukrainian airspace, Peskov said such a move would imply the involvement of NATO forces in Ukraine.
“There have been no such statements before. No one has discussed closing the skies over Ukraine. In any case, this would mean that the armed forces of NATO countries would operate on Ukrainian territory. This is precisely what the special military operation is being conducted against. Therefore, this issue still needs careful consideration,” Peskov said.
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