Budanov: in 2026 Ukraine will receive fewer Patriot missiles than in 2025

Head of the Ukrainian President’s Office Kyrylo Budanov said that in 2026 the country will receive fewer missiles for Patriot air defense systems than in the current year, and that the quantity will not be sufficient.

He made the statement in an interview with the Italian publication La Stampa.

According to Budanov, the Patriot remains the only weapons system capable of effectively neutralizing ballistic missiles.

“I will not cite figures, because I do not want to give the enemy an advantage or be unfair to our partners. However, I will say that in 2026 we will receive less than in 2025. Deliveries are ongoing, they are regular, but they are not enough to keep pace with the rate of Russian attacks,” Budanov said.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the country had received a small batch of the scarce interceptor missiles for Patriot systems.

Prior to that, due to a lack of interceptors, Ukraine had effectively stopped shooting down Russian ballistic missiles for several weeks. Western media published footage of empty Ukrainian Patriot systems sitting in a cornfield near Kyiv.

Nearly all of Ukraine’s partners have refused to transfer interceptor missiles, fearing the depletion of their own stockpiles.