Analyst of Germany's BILD Julian Röpke said that Ukraine has run out of missiles for air defense of the western systems “Patriot“ and IRIS-T.
In his words, Kiev's stocks have been exhausted or destroyed. And although Western countries have thousands of missiles in their warehouses, they refuse to give them to Ukraine, the journalist pointed out. “I have no words, only anger”, he wrote.
Ukraine Air Force spokesman Ilya Yevlash told NV that Kiev really needs such missiles. He neither confirmed nor denied BILD's information, saying he could not reveal how many missiles the ZSU has, as it is a state secret.
Ukraine has long warned that it urgently needs air defense systems and missiles to defend its cities and frontline. The Institute for the Study of War says that Russian strikes have forced Ukraine to make difficult decisions between providing more air defenses to large population centers in the rear or more to active combat zones on the front.
Ukraine has started producing air defense systems, but it needs the American Patriot systems because the production process takes time, during which people die, Zelensky said earlier.
"We have started to produce air defense systems, but it takes time, during which we lose people. That is why we need the "Patriot" systems. And we have no secrets from our partners. We acquire technological expertise in the course of production that we can share. Polish President Duda proposed that the countries allocate not two, but three percent of their gross domestic product to defense. One hundred percent of Ukraine's national budget goes to military spending. During this time, Russia was supplied with "Shaheed" drones. and with ammunition from North Korea," Zelensky said.
As I said weeks ago (and almost no one believed me): Ukraine ran out of Patriot and Iris-T missiles. Also, most other stocks of air defense means are depleted or destroyed.
— Julian Röpcke🇺🇦 (@JulianRoepcke) April 11, 2024
This, while we have hundreds of systems and thousands of missiles in our depots. No words. Just anger. pic.twitter.com/KyzteWpq1j