Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, for an emergency package of Patriot missiles to defend Ukraine’s energy infrastructure against the expected wave of attacks that Russia will launch during the coming winter.
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The Ukrainian leader’s request was made this Tuesday during the closed-door meeting they held in the Oval Office, as Zelensky himself confirmed in an interview published this Wednesday by the Axios portal.
“We needed Patriots yesterday,” Zelensky emphasized, explaining that the approval Washington has given to manufacture these missiles on Ukrainian soil is not enough, as it will take at least a year to start producing large quantities.
The goal is to obtain at least 300 of these interceptor missiles for the winter, the time of year when Russia focuses its attacks on energy infrastructure, due to the alarming shortage of these ballistic interceptors, which made it almost impossible to repel the last wave of attacks on Kyiv.
Zelensky explained that Russia uses between 30 and 40 ballistic missiles in each major attack against Ukraine, which usually vary between three and five each month. He also revealed that they are in talks with U.S. companies to improve Ukrainian-made projectiles to assimilate them to the Patriots.
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This new claim by Zelensky is part of those he has been making in recent months, warning that air defense systems are empty to face Russian attacks, placing special emphasis on the U.S. granting them the appropriate authorizations to manufacture Patriots in Ukraine and thus reduce their dependence on their partners’ reserves.
Trump gave the green light to these demands during the last NATO summit, held earlier this month in Ankara. “I think we are going to close that deal (….) We are going to grant you a license to manufacture Patriot missiles,” the U.S. president said in the Turkish capital.
On the other hand, Zelensky has also highlighted that the relationship with Trump is now much better and believes that part of this is due to how the conflict has developed in recent months, with Ukraine carrying out bolder attacks each week and Russia, it seems for the first time since the invasion began in February 2022, increasingly feeling the discontent of its citizens.
“Our relations are much better and more constructive. They are no longer as emotional as before. And I think it is good that they have improved,” Zelensky said, who with Tuesday’s visit, made it the third time he has gone to the Oval Office since that tense meeting at the end of February 2025.
