{"id":330160,"date":"2026-08-19T07:00:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T07:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=330160"},"modified":"2026-08-21T08:01:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T08:01:18","slug":"german-die-welt-zelensky-shows-signs-of-desperation-over-patriot-air-defense-shortage-ahead-of-russian-winter-strikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=330160","title":{"rendered":"German Die Welt: Zelensky Shows Signs of Desperation Over Patriot Air Defense Shortage Ahead of Russian Winter Strikes"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Paul Serran \u2013 The Gateway Pundit Aug 17, 2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><strong>Patriot stockpiles around the world are dwindling.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>All the MSM is awash with reports about the result of Ukrainian drone and missile strikes inside Russian territory.<\/p>\n<p>And there\u2019s no denying that they <em>are<\/em> taking a toll \u2013 even if it\u2019s not nearly as grave as the wishful thinking of the partisan journalists would suggest.<\/p>\n<p>But what is <em>not nearly as well reported<\/em> is the toll of the massive, unrelenting Russian strikes: the Ukrainian Black Sea ports have ceased operations; the military sites have been pounded non-stop; and, most importantly, the power generation and energy transmission infrastructure is hanging by a thread.<\/p>\n<p>The terrible Ukraine blackouts of last winter may become even worse, and Ukraine now has <em>no<\/em> Patriot air defense missiles to try to shoot down the overwhelming Russian missiles and drones.<\/p>\n<p>So, Kiev regime leader Volodymyr Zelensky is out begging for the \u2013 by now \u2013 rare Patriot missiles; something that German press calls \u2018a sign of desperation\u2019.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Zelensky on Patriot missiles:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m asking American partners to sell us 5% of [Patriot] missiles from their stocks. If they sell us 5%, we will go through the winter and save people&#8217;s lives. If they can sell us 10%, we will destroy all the Russians&#8217; ballistic missiles.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/l2jXz8I0nq\">pic.twitter.com\/l2jXz8I0nq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Visegr\u00e1d 24 (@visegrad24) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/visegrad24\/status\/2087858844395262001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 13, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/x-post-patriot-missiles-5-per-cent.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wpa-warning wpa-image-missing-alt aligncenter size-full wp-image-330161\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/x-post-patriot-missiles-5-per-cent.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"608\" height=\"494\" data-warning=\"Missing alt text\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/x-post-patriot-missiles-5-per-cent.png 608w, https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/x-post-patriot-missiles-5-per-cent-480x390.png 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 608px, 100vw\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.welt.de\/politik\/ausland\/article6a7eb8abf14aa44f2fd5d871\/luftabwehrraketen-fuer-kiew-kronjuwelen-sollten-die-wende-im-krieg-bringen-die-illusion-eines-schnellen-patriot-deals.html\">Die Welt<\/a> reported:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cFor Ukraine, the situation before winter is so precarious that Volodymyr Zelensky has not only called on his diplomats to sound the alarm all over the world, but is also doing so himself. \u2018This year I am asking our US partners to sell me five percent of their missile stockpiles\u2019, Zelensky said in an interview with CNN on Thursday. If that happens, the president said, \u2018we will survive the winter and save lives. If they sell us ten percent, we will destroy all of Russia\u2019s ballistic missiles\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Zelensky\u2019s cry for help is a sign of desperation.<\/strong><\/em><em> Air defense missiles are in short supply all over the world. Neither the Europeans nor the USA have had enough. Just a few weeks ago, media reports made the rounds that Donald Trump\u2019s options for action in the Iran war are limited due to a dramatically reduced missile stockpile.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>By now, everyone understands that Donald J. Trump\u2019s \u2018promise\u2019 to grant Ukraine a license to produce Patriot anti-aircraft missiles was made \u2018in the heat of the moment\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe haven\u2019t talked to the companies yet\u201d, Trump admitted.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cTrump revised his assessment a few weeks later. \u2018It\u2019s a difficult thing\u2019, he said with a view to the release of corresponding intellectual property during the cabinet meeting in Camp David two weeks ago. \u2018We haven\u2019t agreed on it yet\u2019, Trump said. There is a risk that \u2018the people you give the technology to turn against you\u2019, he added.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>[\u2026] Apart from the political decision required for licensing a co-production of the state-of-the-art missile with Ukraine, the manufacturer would also have to agree. \u2018I strongly doubt that Lockheed Martin will release the keys to its production\u2019, said JC Lintzenich, Visiting Senior Fellow of the German Marshall Fund (GMF) in Washington, in an interview with WELT. Previously, he was chief security policy advisor to Republican Senator Thom Tillis. \u2018These are the crown jewels of the company and no one wants them to fall into the hands of China or Russia and be copied there\u2019, he said.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>But even if the license <em>was<\/em> indeed given, production in large quantities would be years off \u2018due to the complexity\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>In 2025, Lockheed Martin delivered 620 missile units, and the only licensed production abroad, in Japan, delivers only 30 units per year \u2018because key components are missing\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>As we see, what\u2019s <em>not<\/em> in shortage are reasons for Zelensky\u2019s desperation<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegatewaypundit.com\/2026\/08\/zelensky-showing-signs-desperation-patriot-air-defense-shortage\/\">Source\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Patriot stockpiles around the world are dwindling. Together with Iran\u2019s ongoing missile strikes on Israel, the U.S. just doesn\u2019t have enough air defence missiles for Israel or Ukraine <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":263156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58,146,116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-330160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Current_Affairs","category-iran-u-s-israel-war","category-ukraine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=330160"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330200,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330160\/revisions\/330200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/263156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=330160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=330160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=330160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}