Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Wednesday that there was a “high probability” that Russia would carry out a massive strike overnight, again calling for more air defense assets from Ukraine’s allies.
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“The Russians prepared a massive attack a few days ago, and there is a high probability that the strike will be carried out tonight,” he wrote on X, calling on the population to pay attention to the warning sirens.
Mr. Zelensky also repeated his request to Ukraine’s allies to provide kyiv with the missiles that are missing from its anti-aircraft defenses.
“This primarily concerns the United States and those partners who have Patriot missiles and can provide them to support our defense,” he said.
The Ukrainian president spoke with his American counterpart Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday during a meeting during which they discussed the possibility of Ukraine producing Patriot interceptors, vital for kyiv’s anti-aircraft defense.
At the beginning of July, Donald Trump expressed his desire to authorize Ukraine to produce these surface-to-air missiles, at a time when Russia intensified its ballistic missile strikes.
Only American Patriot systems are capable of shooting them down, but Ukraine is seriously lacking PAC-3 interceptor missiles. A shortage which has worsened since the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran in February.
