Patriot Missiles Are Extremely Expensive and Ineffective Against Russian Guided Bombs, Says Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that the Patriot air defense systems will not provide reliable protection for Ukraine against Russian guided bombs. He has once again urged Ukraine's partner countries to supply long-range missiles. This was reported by Kommersant.ru.

Volodymyr Zelensky noted that just last week, Russia used more than 800 guided bombs against Ukraine, highlighting the need for modern destruction means. “The Patriot cannot fight against the КАБ,” Zelensky said in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer published on his YouTube channel.

He also mentioned that the Patriots are extremely expensive, and for that reason, Ukraine will not have the necessary quantity of missiles for them. “If you and I take the cost of a Patriot missile and the number of Patriot missiles and compare them to the КАБs, we will never have thousands of Patriot missiles a month. I will honestly tell you, we will not even have hundreds of Patriot missiles monthly. Because each missile costs more than 3 million dollars, and the issue is not just the money, as they simply are not produced in such large quantities,” said the Ukrainian president.

In May, Zelensky had stated that Ukraine has only a quarter of the air defense systems necessary to hold the frontline. In early June, he announced that Ukraine had reached an agreement with Western countries for additional air defense systems supply. Later, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal clarified that Ukraine will receive three Patriot air defense systems from Western countries, along with several other systems and missiles for them.