KYIV, Ukraine, and WASHINGTON — Russia's massive air assault against Ukraine before dawn on Saturday included 27 ballistic missiles, many pounding the capital Kyiv, killing nine people and wounding more than 30.The attack was larger than most, though Russia carries out airstrikes almost every night.What made this notable was Ukraine's inability to defend itself.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the military shot down just one of those Russian missiles."Only one ballistic missile was intercepted, simply because there are no interceptors for the Patriot systems," the Ukrainian leader wrote on social media.Zelenskyy was referring to the U.S.-made Patriot air defense system that is the country's only reliable way to defend against Russian ballistic missile attacks.Ukraine has been largely helpless in similar Russian onslaughts in recent weeks.Ukraine faces the most urgent need for a fresh supply of Patriot interceptors.
But the U.S.also has concerns about its own stockpiles of Patriots, which have declined dramatically during the war in Iran.In addition, U.S.
allies in the Gulf are also wondering when they will be able to get more Patriots if there's renewed fighting with Iran and they exhaust their current inventories.In June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called news reports about a shortage of Patriot missiles a "manufactured story." However, two months earlier, Hegseth acknowledged that replenishing missile stockpiles could take "months and years."The Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington said in July that the U.S.had more than 2,300 Patriots before President Trump launched the Iran war on Feb.
28.Today, the number is around 800.The exact number of Patriot interceptors is classified, but a U.S.
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, told NPR that the CSIS figures appeared accurate.The U.S.military introduced the Patriot system in the 1980s and it received its first big test in the 1991...