Ukraine has exhausted its stockpile of missiles for Patriot air defense systems

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy complained during a briefing about the acute shortage of missiles for the US Patriot systems. This was reported by the Strana.ua news and analysis website in its Telegram channel on 19 February.

He said that one day he received a call from the commander and said that there were no missiles for Patriot to defend one of the Ukrainian cities. In response to this problem, the Ukrainian leader began to ask the United States not only to provide missiles, but also to give a license for their production.

"You don't want our presence, NATO membership, OK. Can we have Patriot?" - Zelensky explained. In addition, he said, Ukraine would not mind receiving another 20 Patriot systems from the United States as a "security guarantee."

Zelensky also noted that he started discussing with European leaders possible financing of the Ukrainian army if the U.S. refuses to provide assistance. According to him, Europe is ready to take on this financial burden.

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Earlier, on February 4, US President Donald Trump accused his predecessor Joe Biden of giving away US funds to help Ukraine. According to him, the US is currently negotiating with Europe on the distribution of the financial contribution in order to equalize the forces. On 2 February, Zelensky said that he had no idea where the $200bn allocated by the USA for military aid had gone . According to him, Kiev has not received even half of the allocated aid.