Zelensky Wants To Order At Least 25 Patriot Systems From The U.S.
- 10.11.2025, 17:48
The Ukrainian president urged allies to speed up deliveries of air defense systems.
Ukraine's air defense system cannot fully withstand large-scale Russian bombing of cities and energy facilities. That's why Vladimir Zelensky intends to order new Patriot systems from U.S. manufacturers and persuade European partners to help him do so.
Zelensky said Monday that he wants to order 25 Patriot air defense systems from the United States, according to Associated Press. He acknowledged that they are expensive and it could take years to produce such a large batch. Therefore, Zelensky said, European countries could hand over their Patriot systems to Ukraine and later receive new ones from the United States in return. "We would not want to wait," he added.
The same scheme he outlined in an interview with The Guardian over the weekend, but claimed 27 Patriot systems. The power went out twice at the presidential palace during the conversation; Centrenergo said all of its thermal power plants shut down after the Russian raid on the night of Nov. 8. "Right now, zero generation. Zero!" the state company said in a statement.
The strikes left Kiev, Kharkiv, Poltava, Chernihiv, Dnipro and other cities without light, water and heating for long hours. "The enemy launched a massive strike with ballistic missiles, which are extremely difficult to shoot down," Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk said. She said she could not remember there being so many direct strikes on energy facilities since the war began.
Zelensky told The Guardian that Vladimir Putin orders "terrorist attacks" on Ukraine's power grid because "in no other way can he create tension in our society."
Zelensky said Ukraine recently received Patriot complexes from Germany, AP noted. It is not known how many of them are now in service with the Ukrainian air defense system.
With a shortage of U.S. air defense systems to effectively defend against Russian missiles, Ukraine is trying to develop its own similar systems. Developing an alternative to Patriot is a priority for Fire Point, its general and technical director Irina Terekh told The Wall Street Journal. According to her, Fire Point is cooperating with European and other Ukrainian companies in this matter.
Fire Point has previously developed one of Ukraine's most effective kamikaze drones, the FP-1, and the Flamingo long-range cruise missile, which can carry a warhead weighing 1,150 kilograms and has a range of up to 3,000 kilometers. According to Terekh, production of Flamingo missiles, which are already being used for strikes against Russia, should rise to 200 per month by the end of the year, and to several thousand in 2026.