Zelenskyy Asks Trump for More US Air Defense Help Against Russian Missile Attacks, Kyiv Says
Ukraine says deliveries through the PURL program are falling behind as Russian missile attacks intensify and Patriot interceptors remain in short supply.
- On Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump and Congress requesting more American-made Patriot PAC-3 missiles and additional air defense systems to counter intensifying Russian ballistic missile attacks.
- Russian aerial attacks intensified dramatically after a massive overnight assault on May 24 launched 90 missiles and 600 drones, straining Ukraine's depleting stockpile of interceptors as Zelensky instructed Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk on April 16 to urgently contact partner countries pledging Patriot missiles.
- Zelensky wrote that "for a nation fighting for its survival, there is hardly anything more painful to see than Patriot batteries with no missiles loaded," while Ukrainian officials fear the country's limited Patriot interceptor supply may struggle to withstand bombardments despite achieving more than 90% drone interception rates.
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on May 25 that Moscow planned strikes on Ukrainian "decision-making centers" and urged Washington to evacuate the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, while Washington declined to immediately comment on the Ukrainian letter.
- Zelensky's appeal reflects systemic challenges in the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List weapons program, while Russia's approval on Tuesday of a plan allowing bank employees to operate drone defenses suggests Moscow's military air defenses are failing, analyst Thomas Withington of the Royal United Services Institute in London said.
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