Trump Rebuffs Zelensky’s Request for Missiles: We Want Them Too

By Staff, Agencies 

US President Donald Trump has dismissed Ukraine’s plea for more Patriot anti-air missiles following widespread reports that interceptor stockpiles have been significantly depleted by the war with Iran.

Vladimir Zelensky has warned that Ukraine is running out of Western-supplied interceptors to fend off Russian strikes. On Wednesday, Ukrainian forces failed to intercept a single missile during an overnight barrage on Kiev.

“The United States knows exactly what we need and that this is not about something abstract,” Zelensky said in a video address on Thursday.

Asked by a reporter in the Oval Office later that day about Ukraine’s request, Trump replied: “Well, I mean, we want missiles too.” He added that his predecessor, Joe Biden, had provided Kiev with $300 billion worth of ammunition “free of charge,” at the expense of US stockpiles.

“When I left [the presidency in 2021], it was full. And he gave a lot of it away. And now we are rebuilding it,” Trump said. He added, however, that the stockpiles were “in good shape” and bragged about an “unlimited supply” of weapons.

“We are not involved [in the Ukraine conflict]. We are separated by an ocean,” Trump said in response to a question about Russian strikes on Ukraine.

Last week, Trump denied that he had agreed to grant Ukraine a license to produce Patriots, backtracking on a statement he made several weeks earlier following a meeting with Zelensky.

Multiple news outlets have reported in recent months that the Pentagon is grappling with shortages of both interceptors and precision-strike munitions. CNN cited sources this week as saying that the US has exhausted nearly 80% of the interceptors available for its THAAD missile defense system compared with pre-war levels.