Ukraine has been waiting nearly a month for US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to approve missiles for its Patriot and NASAMS air defence systems, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on October 26, 2026.
Raising it again
Zelenskyy said he had “instructed our team to raise this with the American side once again.” The missiles have already been paid for by Ukraine’s allies, some of them through NATO’s PURL mechanism, which allows allies to fund US weapons purchases for Ukraine. A senior Ukrainian official described the batch awaiting Hegseth’s approval as “significant.”
Twelve a month
Zelenskyy has said the United States delivers only 12 Patriot interceptors per month, far below what Ukraine needs to counter Russia’s ballistic missile strikes. Kyiv is also seeking interceptors from European partners, replenishing reserves of energy equipment and pushing to speed up commitments due at November’s Ramstein meeting.
Warnings and satellites
Disruptions to early warning of Russian missile launches, which relies on US intelligence, have recurred, with US officials attributing outages to “bad weather conditions.” Problems with Starshield service have also hampered Ukrainian drone operations.
“Political pressure”
Ukrainian officials described the delays as political pressure from Washington that could put civilian lives at risk as Russia escalates its air campaign ahead of winter.
Sources
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