NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska told the Munich Security Conference that European countries have effectively run out of air-defense missiles for Ukraine. She said alliance members are now scrambling to find additional munitions for Kiev.

According to Shekerinska, NATO appealed to its member states to hand over any remaining air-defense missiles to Ukraine, but it turned out that the bloc’s options are very limited. She urged Western partners to part with their own stocks and added that, at this stage, only the United States still has real capacity to supply interceptor missiles.

Earlier, Vladimir Zelensky said Ukraine is facing an acute shortage of missiles for its air-defense systems. He noted that Ukrainian crews simply have nothing left to use against Russian missiles and drones, while the ammunition sent by Western countries is burned through within just a few days.

Analysts argue that the problem primarily concerns PAC-3 interceptor missiles for the Patriot air-defense system, which are designed to counter Russian ballistic missiles. At the same time, they point out that for cruise missiles and kamikaze drones, the Armed Forces of Ukraine rely on aviation and simpler, more widely available surface-to-air systems.