“KYIV, Ukraine -- The Trump administration's withholding of critical Patriot interceptor missiles and other weapons from Ukraine is a body blow to the embattled country's efforts to withstand Russia's mounting aerial assaults.
Even before the decision, Kyiv was struggling to counter Russian technology, tactics and troop numbers. Moscow is deploying maneuverable ballistic missiles that can avoid the vaunted Patriot air-defense system's radar, and launching record numbers of drones to bombard Ukraine every two or three nights. A halt in the supply of interceptors from the U.S. will increase pressure on Ukraine.
U.S. officials said Tuesday that the Trump administration had halted deliveries of some weapons systems to Ukraine in order to be sure the U.S. had sufficient stocks. The Patriot missile is one of the most sought-after pieces of military tech, as conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East sap supplies and its makers struggle to manufacture enough of them to fully replenish stockpiles. Lockheed Martin makes around 550 interceptors a year, which it could sell to the U.S. and the 18 other countries that use Patriot systems.
The Pentagon didn't shut the door to future aid to Ukraine, including air defense interceptors, saying that it would provide President Trump with options to continue military aid that are consistent with his goal of ending the conflict.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told reporters Wednesday that defense officials were conducting a "capability review" to ensure that U.S. military aid aligns with the Trump administration's priorities.
"We will not be providing any updates to specific quantities or types of munitions being provided to Ukraine or the timelines associated with these transfers," Parnell added.
For Ukraine, there are few alternatives. European allies are also struggling to increase missile production, underscoring how the West's defense industry is laboring to restore production to the levels that would be required by attritional, high-intensity warfare.
"Is that bad news for Kyiv? Obviously, as it reduces the threat to the Russian air force," said Douglas Barrie, a specialist in military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
He said the U.S. reducing its supplies of interceptors was inevitable given their scarcity.
Kyiv consistently has put air defenses at the top of wish lists provided to Western backers.
While European and domestically made equipment has proved effective at knocking out Russia's long-range Shahed drones and cruise missiles, the Patriot is its only defense against ballistic missiles.
On Tuesday, U.S. shipments that were in Poland were halted, including more than two dozen of the Patriot's PAC-3 missiles, more than two dozen Stinger air-defense systems, Hellfire air-to-ground missiles and more than 90 AIM air-to-air missiles, administration and congressional officials said.
Ukraine has been fending off an increasingly brutal air-raid campaign from Russia, which launched a record number of attack drones in June, interspersing them with cruise and ballistic missiles, according to data analyzed by the Center for Information Resilience, a U.K.-based open-source investigations organization.
Russia's latest tactic has been to launch many drones and missiles in a single attack to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses. One such bombardment last weekend involved 477 drones, 46 cruise and 11 ballistic missiles. Only one ballistic missile was intercepted, Ukraine's air force said.
Russia has launched 20,100 drones this year, compared with 2,315 for the same period in 2024, show data analyzed by CIR and The Wall Street Journal. But, the number of complex cruise and ballistic missiles it has fired so far this year is about half the number it used in the first half of 2024.
For much of the conflict, the Patriot could shoot down ballistic and hypersonic missiles with ease. More recently, maneuverable ballistic missiles have been able to avoid its radar, a Ukrainian official said. The Patriot's radar doesn't cover a full 360-degree arc and its missile canisters are angled, leaving a blind spot that adversaries can exploit. While the U.S. would have enough Patriot batteries to provide greater cover, other countries don't have the same numbers.
RTX, which manufactures most of the Patriot's parts, declined to comment on the situation in Ukraine, but said the company continuously updates the system based on real-world engagements.” [1]
1. Pullback in U.S. Weapons Is a Body Blow to Ukraine. MacDonald, Alistair; Lytvynenko, Jane; Gordon, Michael. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 03 July 2025: A7.
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