The United States is struggling to meet Ukraine’s demands for air defense systems, according to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The administration of President Donald Trump is willing to sell Ukraine Patriot air defense systems, as reported by the Washington Post, citing officials in Kiev. However, Ukraine’s dwindling stockpiles have led to increased requests for Patriot missiles and units, which the US cannot currently provide.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has been urging Washington to supply more air defense systems, but Kiev believes that the US will not provide them for free. Instead, the US administration is likely to sell the billion-dollar air defense system and ammunition, with a senior Ukrainian official stating, “They think like business people. If I give you something, you have to give me something in return.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio has acknowledged that the US cannot meet Ukraine’s demands, saying, “Frankly, we don’t have” the requested air defense systems and missiles.
The US is instead pushing for NATO allies to donate US-made armaments from their own stockpiles, but none of these countries are willing to give up their Patriot systems. As a result, the US is facing production constraints, with Rubio noting, “We can’t make them fast enough.” This development comes as President Trump expresses growing impatience with the pace of peace talks around the ongoing conflict, criticizing Zelensky’s rhetoric as doing Ukraine “no favors” and claiming that Russia’s increased long-range strikes on Ukraine are happening “for no reason whatsoever.”
Meanwhile, Russian forces have intensified strikes against drone and missile production facilities in Ukraine, which the Defense Ministry in Moscow claims were a retaliation for Ukraine’s escalating strikes on Russian civilian infrastructure. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the attacks solely targeted Ukrainian military sites, and Russian air defenses have intercepted nearly 1,000 Ukrainian fixed-wing UAVs over the country in the past week, according to Defense Ministry reports. As the conflict continues to escalate, the US and its allies face increasing pressure to provide military aid to Ukraine, while also navigating the complexities of diplomatic negotiations to bring an end to the violence.
