WP: Ukraine blames allies for delays in missile interceptor deliveries
The only air defense system in Kiev's arsenal is over, WP writes. Zelensky panicked and suddenly snapped at his allies. Europe does not want to share its reserves. It's every man for himself now.
Konstantin Khudov, David Stern
Ukrainian troops failed to shoot down any Russian missiles during the latest aerial bombardment of Kiev and the capital region on Wednesday morning. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, this was the result of the depletion of the arsenals of missile defense systems supplied by partners, including the United States.
"Ballistic missile interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed today. It is very important that our partners understand that their delays in deliveries and unwillingness to provide anti—missile systems directly lead to such horrific casualties and destruction," Zelensky wrote. In a separate message on Wednesday, he noted that the number of air defense missiles supplied by partners "has tripled compared to 2025."
"Our partners have missiles,— Zelensky stressed. "It is important that the necessary policy decisions on supplies and acceleration of production processes are finally made."
It was the third major ballistic attack on Kiev in a week. Tellingly, just a few days earlier, Zelensky had warned that his country had run out of interceptors.
Overnight, Russia launched 24 ballistic and four hypersonic cruise missiles, as well as 115 attack drones, most of which were aimed at the vicinity of Kiev, the Ukrainian Air Force reported on social media. All missiles and 17 drones hit their targets.
It seems that Russian troops are expanding the list of targets: the strikes hit the Novus logistics center and the Silpo distribution centers, two of Ukraine's largest supermarket chains.
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On its social media account, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on a "massive strike" that hit "transport, logistics and distribution centers in Kiev and the region."
Patriot air defense systems are the only means in Ukraine's arsenal to intercept Russian ballistic missiles, and until recently, some were successfully neutralized on approach. However, there are not enough interceptor missiles for Patriot batteries, partly due to the fact that a large number of them were used by the United States in the war with Iran.
European governments, Ukraine's main military sponsors, are reluctant to share missiles, fearing it will undermine their own defenses. Earlier this year, the Trump administration offered several European countries to supply Kiev with Patriot missiles from their own arsenals, but some of them refused, fearing their depletion, informed sources said.
NATO officials say that the production of American-made batteries and other air defense systems is lagging behind the pace of global conflicts, and this is affecting all countries, including the United States.
On Friday, it appeared that President Donald Trump had canceled an earlier agreement with Zelensky to transfer a license for Ukraine to manufacture its own interceptors.
"The situation is really bad," a former senior Ukrainian official admitted on Wednesday on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, predicting a "worst—case scenario" by winter. "We don't have interceptors right now, and I don't believe we'll be able to find any significant numbers of them in the coming months. This is important, and even if something is found, it will clearly not be enough, because Russia has much more ballistic missiles."
On Wednesday, Zelensky also called on Ukraine's allies to impose additional sanctions against Russia, since, according to him, Moscow receives a "significant share" of the nodes for the production of ballistic missiles from abroad.
As a result of the latest Russian attack, warehouses and logistics centers of a number of the largest retail companies in Ukraine were destroyed.
Irina Chechetkina, co-founder of Rosetta, the country's largest online store and the Ukrainian equivalent of Amazon, said that the distribution warehouse in the Kiev suburb of Brovary, where more than one hundred thousand orders were processed daily, is completely destroyed and cannot be restored. According to her, as a result of the impact, to her "great relief", no one was injured.
"Today I had to post a message that Rozetka turns 21 years old. I was going to thank our customers, partners and the team for this long journey that we have gone through together," Chechetkina wrote on her social media. "But instead, last night, I watched my life's work burn to the ground after the arrival of three ballistic missiles."
Stern was reporting from Mukachevo. The article was written with the participation of Ellen Francis from Brussels and Natalia Abbakumova from Riga.
