Ukraine has run out of interceptor missiles for its US-made Patriot air defense systems, CNN reported on Thursday, leaving the country more exposed to Russian ballistic missile strikes as a public rift between Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump continues to deepen. A source familiar with the situation told the network that the exhaustion of the interceptor stockpile meant nearly all ballistic missiles went unintercepted during Russia's latest attack.
Deadly strike exposes the gap
"Almost all the ballistic missiles from the last strike were not intercepted due to lack of the (interceptor) missiles," the source told CNN. During the overnight attack into Wednesday morning, October 14, Russian ballistic missiles struck three power plants in Kyiv and targeted energy infrastructure in Kharkiv. Four people were killed and 25 injured in Kyiv, according to the report.
The Ukrainian Air Force had previously said it intercepted four Russian ballistic missiles during that attack — an indication, CNN noted, that Ukraine may have used the last few interceptors it had. One independent war briefing said Russia launched 39 ballistic missiles and more than 120 drones at Ukraine that night, targeting all three of Kyiv's combined heat and power plants.
A shortage months in the making
This is not thought to be the first time Ukraine has fully run out of Patriot interceptors. In mid-August, CNN became the first media outlet to be given access to a Patriot system on Ukrainian territory, and Ukrainian officials acknowledged then that almost no missiles remained. Zelensky told CNN at the time that Ukraine possessed only around a tenth of the interceptors it urgently needed, and that his days were spent making what he called "millions" of calls to allies to secure more.
The Ukrainian president has estimated the country needs 100–120 Patriot interceptor missiles per month during winter. The interceptors are expensive and in short global supply, with demand rising as other countries burned through stockpiles or shored up their own defenses amid the war involving Iran. Zelensky has said Ukraine received three times fewer air defence missiles from its partners this year than in 2025, with Middle East hostilities cited as the official reason. Separately, the Financial Times reported that Trump had refused to provide 300 Patriot missiles in order to preserve US stocks amid the Iran war — a claim reported by the outlet but not confirmed by the White House. Zelensky has also sought a US license to manufacture Patriot interceptors in Ukraine; Trump never confirmed it, and no license was issued.
A bitter feud over energy strikes
The revelation lands amid an increasingly public dispute between Washington and Kyiv. In recent days the White House struck a heavily criticized deal to import Russian diesel, and has pressured Ukraine to halt its strikes on Russia's oil infrastructure. Zelensky said he felt betrayed by Trump's deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin and announced Ukraine would continue striking Russian refineries — telling the Financial Times on Thursday that "the block [on attacking refineries] is out. We're done."
CNN reported the Trump administration warned Ukraine and European allies that the United States could suspend European purchases of American weapons for Ukraine — and intelligence sharing — if Kyiv kept attacking Russian energy facilities. That would threaten future Patriot deliveries through the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), the mechanism by which European countries finance US weapons purchases for Ukraine. Trump on Saturday even suggested Ukraine should get a new leader and replace Zelensky.
Kyiv has not backed down. Ukraine's military said an overnight strike damaged six Russian Su-34M fighter-bombers at the Borisoglebsk airfield in the Voronezh region, and the governor of Russia's Ryazan region confirmed a strike on an oil refinery that started a fire. Russia's defense ministry said it had shot down four Ukrainian Flamingo cruise missiles and 69 drones in the attack, while Putin said Moscow would respond and that the strikes caused no significant damage.
Whether new interceptors arrive — and on what conditions — now depends as much on the political standoff between the two capitals as on the state of global stockpiles.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Hitman (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources
- CNN — Exclusive: Ukraine runs out of Patriot interceptor missiles as Zelensky and Trump clash over war
- hromadske — Ukraine has run out of Patriot interceptor missiles
- Censor.NET — Ukraine has run out of Patriot missiles to shoot down ballistic missiles
- Times Now — Ukraine Runs Out Of Patriot Interceptor Missiles As Zelensky-Trump Rift Deepens