Ukraine is facing a severe shortage of missiles for US-made Patriot air defense systems, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The newspaper writes that Ukraine is effectively suffocating without ammunition for the Patriot batteries. According to the publication, even if European countries step up military assistance following the suspension of US weapons deliveries, the lack of interceptor missiles for these systems remains acute.

WSJ underscores that Patriot complexes are Ukraine’s only means of defense against Russian ballistic missiles. Citing data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the paper notes that since the beginning of 2026 Russia has launched more than 7,000 drones and at least 266 missiles at Ukrainian territory.

Vladimir Zelensky, for his part, has stated that the number of ballistic missile strikes has reached record levels.