Zelensky explains Ukraine’s ballistic missile interceptor shortage

CNN ^ | August 12, 2026 | Nick Paton Walsh

[MinorityRepublican]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine has just a tenth of interceptor missiles it needs from the US to defend itself from Russia’s increased ballistic missile attacks. CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh reports from Kyiv.

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TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Ukraine
KEYWORDS: 55monthsoffailure; angryborisbots; bidencrimefamily; bidenisgoneidiot; bidenspolicyidiot; borisbotshateamerica; bravelittlemongoose; burisma; canadasucksdude; democratgravytrain; evilrussiancobra; foreigners4bidenbux; globohomo; hunterbidenslaptop; mrbeanoncrack; russiastilllosing; russiasucksdude; sendanothertrillion; zeepersarerinosdude

[Secret Agent Man]

Yeah we are running a bit low on our own stockpile here too, Zel...

[Williams]

Somebody needs to up the production and make money.
I think I read that Japan is producing missiles for us?

[delta7]

Translation: Ukraine has been getting absolutely hammered. From Odessa to Kiev to Lvov.....now landlocked, all three ports blasted to pieces.....but somehow the war cheerleaders think they are winning.

[Williams]

Interesting that with all the world’s militaries, only the United States produces a good defensive missile. I’m sure Russia and China has something but they aren’t going to help Ukraine. Israel has the Iron Dome. Don’t the other modern countries in Europe or Asia produce anything?

[Williams]

They are getting hurt but when you read of a “massive” attack it might be 7 dead and a couple of buildings damaged. The cities aren’t being leveled. Not like Russia can carpet bomb.

[Sarah Barracuda]

Hey buddy, we are already lacking these same missiles thanks to Biden sending you a crapload..we need them too ya know otherwise I think Trump would have finished the Iranian regime off

[canuck_conservative]

Russia hits a lot of abandoned buildings and empty fields, which of course have no military value

That’s why Pootin’s Special Military Failure is now in its 55th month of failure ...

[pacificus]

Wrong, that it needs from Europe, who can purchase from US. He’s saying he Ukraine can’t afford to win.

[Paul R.]

And Russia just lost 4 more warships, a few more shadow fleet tankers, and a couple more refineries were hit. They are having to import gasoline.

Any even halfway objective observer would see that the two are beating each other over the head. The thing is, the Ukies are a lot more used to surviving abuse.

[CircleCityHamburgerMan]

Both sides are losing badly. This war will be used for centuries as an example of grand political stupidity and arrogance on both sides. Even if one side surrenders that won’t mean the other side won.

[lodi90]

Moral equivelence is so lazy and beneath conservatives. The fact is if Ukraine surrenders it won’t exist as a nation and culture separate from the filth and misery of the Russian World. If that doesn’t make this a just war nothing does. Demeaning Ukrainians who sacrifice so much that there nation continues to exist is, again, beneath conservatives.

[Vehmgericht]

The Russian Ukrainian conflict is theater. Russia could crush the much smaller Ukraine in a week. All sides have agreed to continue the conflict. There is a lot of money being made. The only cost is the tears of Russia and Ukrainian mothers.

[ansel12]

Nonsense, Russia ran into something they haven’t seen since WWII since their one week war attempt fell apart.

[Engraved-on-His-hands]

Russia could crush the much smaller Ukraine in a week.

It would take two weeks. At least, that is what Putin said:

"Putin Boasts of Being Able to Take Kiev in 2 Weeks"

https://time.com/3259699/putin-boast-kiev-2-weeks/

[webheart]

How much explaining is needed? It seems to me that one sentence is sufficient to say “we don’t have enough interceptors”.

[rdcbn1]

It is really difficult to do anti missile defense

Other countries have air defense at but they are not as effective against missiles

Also, missile warfare is asymmetrical- it is easy and cheap to make a very effective offensive missile but it takes a sophisticated and expensive missile to effectively intercept that cheaper, unsophisticated missile

[Williams]

Ty.

[spetznaz]

France/Italy produces a very good missile called the SAMP/T, that is very similar to the Patriot. The problem is that the Europeans have always depended on the US for defense, and thus never produce enough of anything. Not enough tanks, not enough personnel for their militaries, not enough ships ….and definitely not enough SAMP/T missiles to give to Ukraine at scale.

South Korea also has a good air defense missile, but again, not enough to share.

Germany and Japan have license to build the Patriot, but the scale problem comes up again. Japan has at least started making them; while Germany, despite getting the license in late 2023, has taken some time building its facilities and expectations for the first missile is either end of this year or early next. None are in a position to help Ukraine.

The ONLY country in the world with the ability to help Ukraine AT SCALE is the one and only United States of America. Like in many things, no one else comes close. Others can make similar quality (eg France and Japan), others can make similar scale (eg China), but NONE can make quality and scale. Even those that hate the US have to recognize and respect the fact that the States is simply too far ahead in aggregate. Without the help of the US the war in Ukraine would have ended in 2022.

So, only the US can help Ukraine at scale with advanced/high-capability air defense missiles. Other nations that manufacture (capable) air defense missiles either will NOT share with Ukraine (eg Russia will, obviously, not give Ukraine its S-400s; and China will not give their HQ-20 and HQ-19 missiles); and those that would share do not have enough to give (eg France with their SAMP/T, Germany with their licensed Patriot production that has not yet made even one missile, the UK don’t have enough Sky Sabres, etc etc etc).

There is another problem though: unfortunately for Ukraine, it is much easier (magnitudes easier) to make a very effective ballistic missile for attack (even a relatively advanced one …talking about advanced ballistic missiles here, not super-advanced hypersonic maneuvering glide vehicles) than it is to make a very effective air defense missile that can (reliably) shoot down ballistic missiles

Thus, the arrow is much easier to make than the shield, and that’s the issue for Ukraine. Especially now that Russia has stepped up manufacturing of ballistic missiles (plus getting the North Koreans to share/battle test their ballistic missiles as well).

If I was to advise Zelenskyy: given that it will be difficult to get more Patriots, maybe it is time to rethink strategy. What do I mean? I am not saying give up (although a case could be made that unless the war ends, both Ukraine and Russia will lose more than they envisioned, but who’s counting …). What I mean is this. It is clear that Ukraine will not get advanced air defense missiles in large enough numbers to matter. Even if President Trump loved Zelenskyy, and I doubt he does, the war with Iran reduced US stockpiles. The priority right now is to build US stockpiles up. In fact, Japan shipped some Patriots from their new production to the US for that specific purpose. It is also clear there are no other countries that will give Ukraine missiles AT SCALE. Also, even if Ukraine got permission to build them, by the time the factory was built (and rebuilt, several times, considering it would become a prime target for Russia), and by the time the first missile came out, it could be years! As I wrote above, Germany got the license in 2023 and it is only now that they are nearing production of the first missile. Maybe next year even! This means that even licensing a factory in Ukraine (or neighboring Poland to avoid Russia sending Oreshniks to mess up the factory) might be a waste, given that in the time it would take for first production the war could be over, and by the time it was humming at scale it would be even longer.

So, what to do?

Maybe the strategy should not be building the shield. It is clear that is hard/impossible.

Maybe Ukraine should be more arrows and spears. Heavily invest in coming up with a LOT of ballistic missiles (with conventional warheads, of course, unless one wants the end of the world because for a fact Russia will nuke a near-nuclear Ukraine in the same way Israel would nuke a near-nuclear Iran). Those ballistic missiles would basically enable Ukraine to do a tit for tat with Russia. Russia blows up buildings in Odessa, Ukraine blows up buildings in Novosibirsk.

Would that work? Maybe, maybe not. But coming up with relatively advanced ballistic missiles is much easier than (1) advanced air defense missiles, (2) advanced cruise missiles or for that matter nearly anything apart from drones. They are also more capable and difficult to stop than drones.

So, maybe that’s the solution. If the shield is unavailable for whatever reason, then focus on the spear and the arrow. Enough arrows become a shield in and of themselves.

Especially when Ukraine will NOT be getting advanced air defense weaponry at scale.

[Polanski]

It’s the most insane war since WW1, absolutely just about hubris for nothing.