Ukraine<\/a> said it shot down 39 cruise missiles and 145 drones that night. However, it made no mention of how many ballistic or hypersonic missiles were launched or intercepted. This is part of a controversial new policy of not reporting ballistic interceptions. It also speaks to a stark vulnerability: Ukraine can no longer shoot them down.<\/p>\n How Ukraine\u2019s ballistic missile problem got so bad<\/p>\n Few systems in the world can intercept ballistic missiles, which can travel enormous distances extremely quickly \u2013 often while actively manoeuvring to avoid defences.<\/p>\n The US Patriot system is the only means Kyiv has to defend against them, but it is running critically short on interceptor missiles. US supplies have been massively reduced by Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> war with Iran, which has depleted up to three-fifths of its available stocks, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies<\/a>. Europe\u2019s stockpiles are also low, with Germany delivering just 35 to Ukraine in March. Replenishing them will take years.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Moscow is keen to take advantage<\/a> now. <\/p>\n Vadym Skibitsky, the deputy head of Ukraine\u2019s military intelligence directorate, said Russia had restructured its defence production to prioritise ballistic missiles \u2013 in particular the 9M723 short-range ballistic missile used in the Iskander-M system and the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal.<\/p>\n Russia is producing some 1,440 ballistic missiles a year, while the US manufactures just 650 Patriots, according to Marc De Vore<\/a>, senior lecturer at the University of St Andrews\u2019s school of international relations and associate fellow at Chatham House.<\/p>\n This summer, North Korea also stepped up support for Russia by supplying ballistic missiles and personnel to launch them.<\/p>\n Last month, before the reporting ban, Ukraine managed to intercept only 29 out of 195 Russian ballistic missiles, with another 40 failing to reach their targets, according to Ukraine\u2019s defence ministry. This month is likely to be even worse.<\/p>\n Despite Ukraine\u2019s struggles, the US has given conflicting signals about granting it a licence to produce Patriot missiles domestically. Ukraine is busy developing its own anti-ballistic missile system, Freya, alongside European allies, as a lower-cost alternative. However, both schemes will take years to bear fruit.<\/p>\n \u2018Ukraine must look beyond purely defensive measures\u2019<\/p>\n Increasingly, experts say that if Ukraine cannot shoot the arrow, it must shoot the archer instead. <\/p>\n \u201cWith no reliable short-term solutions to the lack of Patriot interceptors, Ukraine must look beyond purely defensive measures and explore potential offensive options,<\/a>\u201d said Mykola Bielieskov, a research fellow at the National Institute for Strategic Studies think-tank in Kyiv.<\/p>\n Ukraine is already targeting military sites in Russia, including ballistic missile infrastructure, but it is now aiming to expand its deep-strike attacks to critical factories, command hubs, storage sites and launchers.<\/p>\n De Vore told The i Paper: \u201cBallistic missiles production does depend on more sophisticated, bigger machine tools, so if you well and truly took out a ballistic missile factory you could disrupt missile production for a very considerable amount of time.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n However, at present, Ukraine doesn\u2019t have sufficiently powerful warheads to take those out.<\/p>\n \u201cRussians have some ballistic missile and storage sites that are closer to Ukraine and those are particularly hardened, they have concrete shielding on them,\u201d De Vore said. \u201cEven the good long-range Ukrainian missiles don\u2019t have a specific concrete-penetrating warhead.\u201d<\/p>\n Europe could help in this regard, he added, pointing to German Taurus missiles. \u201cThis missile has sophisticated bunker-penetrating warheads and immunity to jamming, which would enable Ukraine to destroy Russia\u2019s hardened missile assembly plants.\u201d<\/p>\n But so far Germany has refused to send any. <\/p>\n \u201cIf Germany will not provide Taurus missiles to Ukraine for use against targets in occupied Crimea, it seems highly unlikely that Berlin would authorise their use against targets inside the Russian Federation,\u201d said Luke Coffey, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute\u2019s Centre on Europe and Eurasia. <\/p>\n \u201cThere is also the range limitation. Taurus has a range of roughly 300 miles, while many important production facilities are located deeper inside Russia,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Trump holds the key capabilities<\/p>\n The US could provide Ukraine with software updates for its fighter jets, so they could hit mobile missile launchers, retired US Navy Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery suggested this summer<\/a>.<\/p>\n The US has already approved the sale of 3,350 Extended Range Attack Munitions (ERAMs) to Ukraine, which can destroy distant high-value targets. However, at present they can only be utilised by Ukraine\u2019s legacy Soviet aircraft, which cannot update targets in flight.<\/p>\n The US should prioritise \u201csoftware upgrades enabling full integration of the missile with the F-16\u2019s stores management and weapons delivery systems\u201d, Montgomery said. \u201cA small change in US policy would make a big difference in Ukraine\u2019s fight for survival.\u201d<\/p>\n Another key challenge is locating mobile missile launch sites. Key to this could be Elon Musk\u2019s<\/a> Starlink satellite system, which is already central to Kyiv\u2019s battlefield command and control.<\/p>\n![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SEI_308947309.jpg\")
Smoke after a Russian drone and missile strike on Kyiv on Thursday (Photo: Oleksandr Ratushniak\/Reuters)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SEI_309013085.jpg\")
A Russian Iskander-M missile launcher parades through Red Square during the general rehearsal of the Victory Day military parade (Photo: Kirill Kudryavtsev\/AFP via Getty)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SEI_215818474.jpg\")
The Ukrainian Air Force\u2019s F-16 fighter jet flies in an undisclosed location in Ukraine (Photo: Efrem Lukatsky\/AP)<\/p>\n
![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SEI_299796758.jpg\")
Supplies for US-made Patriot systems are dwindling (Photo: US Army\/AFP) <\/p>\n