Vladimir Zelensky is in an open feud with US President Donald Trump while demanding precious defense weapons from his European backers
Published 15 Oct, 2026 23:37
| Updated 16 Oct, 2026 13:56
FILE PHOTO: A Polish military Patriot missile launcher carrying inert training canisters during the Armed Forces Day parade in Warsaw, Poland, on August 15, 2026. © Artur Widak / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Ukraine has exhausted its remaining US-made Patriot interceptor missiles used to defend against Russian strikes, CNN reported on Thursday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The reported shortage comes amid a public feud between US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky over Trump’s diesel deal with Moscow and Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil refineries.
According to CNN, the Ukrainian Air Force said it had intercepted four Russian ballistic missiles, apparently using the last of its remaining Patriot interceptors.
“Almost all the ballistic missiles from the last strike were not intercepted due to lack of the (interceptor) missiles,” a source told the network.
Zelensky said he felt betrayed after Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel exports earlier this month in the hopes of lowering energy prices ahead of the US midterm elections in November. Trump defended the move as beneficial to consumers and consistent with his “America First” agenda.
When asked about Zelensky’s criticism of the diesel deal, Trump suggested that it was “time for Ukraine to get a new president.” Zelensky, whose five-year presidential term expired in 2024, has refused to call new elections, citing martial law and the need for a months-long ceasefire with Russia. The Kremlin has argued that Ukraine would use a prolonged truce to replenish its armed forces and said it was only prepared to suspend strikes on election day.
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Earlier this week, Zelensky said he would defy Trump’s demands to halt strikes on Russian energy facilities, which the US president blamed for high energy prices. Zelensky said Ukraine would agree to an energy truce only if Russia did the same. Moscow, however, said it was seeking a comprehensive peace deal on its terms rather than an unconditional ceasefire, which it argued Ukraine would exploit to its advantage.
The Trump-Zelensky rift deepened further this week after Ukraine reported sudden disruptions to Starlink and Starshield, satellite services provided by SpaceX that Kiev uses for drone strikes.
Ukrainian officials also said they had received no advance warning from their Western partners of Russian missile strikes on Kiev on two consecutive nights, Monday and Tuesday.
According to US media reports, American officials attributed the failure to detect the missile launches to bad weather, an explanation their Ukrainian counterparts reportedly found difficult to believe.
Zelensky renewed his plea for additional Patriot interceptors on Wednesday, urging the US and other partners “not to turn a blind eye to reality” and “to respond forcefully.”
The US, however, depleted much of its interceptor missile stockpile during the war with Iran, as widely reported by American media and confirmed in a Pentagon inspector general’s report last month. Trump has downplayed the shortages, claiming that US stockpiles were virtually unlimited.
