Zelenskyy: 25 Patriot air defence systems needed to fully shield Ukraine from Russian air attacks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine needs 25 Patriot systems with 6-8 batteries each to completely protect its territory from Russian air attacks.

Source: Zelenskyy on the air of the national joint 24/7 newscast

Quote: "I won't tell you how many Patriot systems we have. I won't tell you how many Patriot systems we have. I can say this: to protect Ukraine completely, in the future, Ukraine would need 25 Patriot systems with 6-8 batteries each. I see no secrets here, because all our partners are well aware of this, even knowing the points where the relevant systems should be placed and operate.

[So, we need] Patriot systems or their analogues. There are several analogues in the world, and they work very well too. We have a systematic approach to this, it is fully calculated.

Yes, it may sound like a large number, but the territory of Ukraine is also very large. Therefore, in order to completely cover our country, even those regions where there are no or almost no strikes, to completely cover our country, we need 25 Patriot systems in the structure of the Air Defence of Ukraine, with all the other systems we have."

Details: Asked whether Ukraine has stocks of missiles for air defence and whether there is a risk that the power system might be "finished off completely", Zelenskyy said: "They will try to finish off our energy system, it is what they wish for. I believe that we will be able to overcome this situation."

"We were able to protect many power facilities with air defence and other first-, second- and third-level defences. However, unfortunately, there are missiles that these defence systems do not protect [us] from. And only a Patriot system or a similar one can be effective in this case. And in such cases, we have to choose which facility to protect: this one or the other, this city or that other city, at any given time. Therefore, due to the certain deployments of something (air defence systems – ed.) that should not be moved, we lose some speed and protection," he explained.

Zelenskyy stressed that the intensity of Russian attacks is quite high these days.

"We have sufficient air defence capability for today, but I believe that we should think about what might happen tomorrow. Tomorrow, the intensity [of Russian attacks] may continue to be so intense that we will be low [on anti-air missiles]. If they continue to strike every day like they have been doing for the last month, we may not have enough missiles, and our partners know this as well," the Ukrainian president said.

Commenting on the availability of ammunition for Ukraine's Defence Forces, Zelenskyy said: "We have no ammunition for counteroffensive actions, there are several initiatives that have been launched to defend our state, and we are receiving the weapons."

The Ukrainian President also stressed that ammunition is now being "fairly distributed" to brigades on the most tense fronts.

"With regard to disrupting the Russian counteroffensive, there is a lack of suitable weapons. As for disrupting their actions on a particular front, we need to target their military airfields, their planes that hit us with missiles, their helicopters, storage points and bases, and there is a long-range projectile or a suitable weapon for this, and that's what we lack. All these agreements are in place, but nevertheless, so far, this is the case," Zelenskyy added.

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