Yuri Zoria – Euromaidanpress April 16, 2026

Ukraine’s Patriot missile stocks are critically depleted, with crews rationing interceptors during active attacks to preserve what remains, the Air Force said on Ukrainian TV on 16 April. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy ordered the Air Force commander to urgently contact partners who had made delivery commitments.

Ihnat’s remarks came after Russia launched a mass attack on 15-16 April that killed at least 16 civilians — firing 44 missiles, including 19 ballistic, and 659 drones at Ukraine in 24 hours, with Ukraine intercepting 19 of 20 cruise missiles but only 8 of the ballistic ones. The US previously stopped donating weapons to Ukraine under Trump, making European allies purchase them for Kyiv instead — and Trump’s war on Iran has depleted American stockpiles, ruling out resupply from Washington for now.

Crews counting shots: two of eight missiles left

A video shared by Air Command West on 10 April showed a Patriot unit whose commander said crews were destroying ballistic targets with one interceptor instead of the standard two to four, to stretch dwindling stocks.

Ukraine’s Air Force communications chief, Colonel Yurii Ihnat, commented on the video, saying on 16 April that the video showed the scale of the problem.

Our soldiers serving on Patriot say there are empty containers — that in this specific launcher being shown, two of the eight missiles remain,” Ihnat said.

Crews are not firing at full capacity.

“Our people are trained 24/7 — not only to successfully repel ballistics, rationally using not several missiles, but trying to save them for later,” Ihnat said. “The question right now is really about missiles — it is very serious,” he said.

Ihnat: Ballistic missile attacks are the Achilles heel

Of the 19 ballistic missiles Russia fired last night, Ukraine’s air defenders intercepted fewer than half.

“For us to shoot down more, we need both systems and missiles,” Ihnat said. “More Patriot missiles are needed — those who service them say so.”

Ihnat also noted that Ukraine’s crews have mastered the system at a level no other country has reached.

“They perfectly understand that today they are the best in the world at operating this system and have the most experience, which they are ready to share with our Western partners,” he said.

Following the overnight attack, Zelenskyy ordered the Air Force commander to contact partners who had earlier made missile-delivery commitments. The President noted:

“Another night proving that Russia does not deserve any easing of global policy or the lifting of sanctions.“

The supply squeeze: Iran and Trump

Ukraine uses roughly 60 Patriot interceptors per month. Germany scraped together 35 PAC-3 missiles from several European partners in March — about two weeks’ worth of coverage.

US defense contractors produce roughly 550 PAC-3 missiles annually — a figure that falls well short of combined global demand.

Zelenskyy had earlier said Ukraine faces a critical deficit of Patriot systems and missiles and that if the war continues, Kyiv will have even fewer weapons.

Ballistic missiles are the category of Russian weapons least covered by Ukraine’s air defenses, and Russia has been scaling up their use. Patriot — and to a limited extent the Franco-Italian SAMP/T — are the only systems Ukraine operates capable of intercepting them.

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