Ukraine is pressing allies to take immediate decisions on air defence at next week\u2019s NATO summit, warning that delays in supplying Patriot interceptors are costing lives as Russia intensifies ballistic missile attacks.<\/p>\n
Kyiv has appealed to nearly 40 partner countries to urgently transfer Patriot missiles from existing stockpiles in July, offering to backfill them later with deliveries already contracted for Ukraine.<\/p>\n
The push ahead of the summit, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to attend, follows one of the deadliest Russian strikes on Kyiv in recent months, which killed at least 30 people overnight on 2 July.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the site of a damaged residential building in the capital\u2019s Darnytskyi district, Zelenskyy said delayed deliveries had come at a human cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf our partners had delivered what they promised on time, we could have saved more homes and, frankly, more lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The US-made Patriot system remains Ukraine\u2019s only effective defence against ballistic missiles, but officials say supplies of interceptors have fallen critically low. According to Ukraine\u2019s defence ministry, while Kyiv has already signed contracts for hundreds of PAC\u20112 Patriot missiles to be provided with German support, deliveries are not expected to begin for several years.<\/p>\n
People familiar with the discussions said Ukrainian officials have told NATO allies that during recent attacks only a handful of interceptors were available to counter dozens of incoming missiles \u2013 a stark contrast with the results that played out when sufficient stocks allowed entire salvos to be shot down.<\/p>\n
Kyiv insists that such large-scale aerial assaults also clearly demonstrate exactly where funds need to be channelled<\/a>.<\/p>\n Manufactured in the US by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, Patriots have been widely relied upon by US allies, not least in the Gulf, as well as by Ukraine. But the US and Israel’s war on Iran has depleted almost a third of the global stockpile of Patriot interceptors: according to some estimates, Gulf states have collectively fired more than 1,100 of them in the past few months.<\/p>\n Compounding the problem, production remains limited. According to Zelenskyy, Lockheed Martin produces roughly 600 interceptors a year, or about 60 to 65 per month. Ukrainian officials say Russia is producing around 120 ballistic missiles monthly, alongside other systems, and has increasingly tailored its strikes to exploit gaps in Ukraine\u2019s air defence, at times launching around 30 ballistic missiles in a single night.<\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s expectations for NATO<\/p>\n Kyiv\u2019s main battleground in Ankara is expected to be the summit declaration.<\/p>\n Euronews sources familiar with the matter said Kyiv wants European NATO member states to endorse a clearly defined financial commitment for military support fixed for at least two years and explicitly framed as a minimum baseline rather than a ceiling.<\/p>\n Second, Ukraine wants to see concrete steps to strengthen air defence \u2013 the most crucial and the most urgent issue amid Russia\u2019s use of jet-powered drones<\/a> and ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n This could include immediate donations from stockpiles, financed procurement of new interceptors, and something that Kyiv has long been pushing for: decisions on licencing and industrial co\u2011operation that embed Ukraine in a future European missile\u2011defence architecture.<\/p>\n At their recent summit in \u00c9vian-les-Bains, France, the G7 leaders adopted a joint statement saying they were “ready to consider” issuing military production licenses to Ukraine.<\/p>\n