Ukraine's defense minister raised the urgent need for Patriot interceptors with Sweden on 22 October, the Defense Ministry reported. The same day, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of more Russian ballistic strikes and blamed US supply cuts.

Patriots are Ukraine's main defense against Russian ballistic missiles, and their deliveries keep shrinking. Figures Zelenskyy released in August showed Patriot interceptor deliveries falling from 675 in 2023 to 364 in 2025, with 264 projected for 2026. Europe holds enough PAC-2 and PAC-3 interceptors for Ukraine's minimum winter needs, Zelenskyy told journalists on 16 October, but he did not yet know how many Europe would hand over, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

Partners' stocks now, Ukraine's missiles later

Russia fired 21 ballistic missiles at Kyiv overnight on 22 October, Zelenskyy said. Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara told his Swedish counterpart, Pål Jonson, that Ukraine must counter ballistic threats as fast as possible, in particular with Patriot interceptors.

Explore further

1,000 Patriot missiles arrive too late for this winter, so Ukraine asked the Ramstein arms coalition to open its warehouses

The ministry's readout says Ukraine has Patriot missiles under contract. It also says Kyiv asks partners to transfer interceptors from their stocks in exchange for future deliveries allocated to Ukraine.

Khmara made the same request at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting on 8 September. He said then that Ukraine was contracting about 1,000 Patriot missiles with partners' help and an EU loan, but they would arrive only in the coming years, LB reported. He asked allies for missiles from their stocks now, in exchange for future upgraded missiles under Ukraine's contracts.

"Only when the American side approves it"

Zelenskyy spoke to journalists before meeting Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Ukrinform reported. He said the Americans had reduced supplies and Russia would step up ballistic attacks.

"Europeans can provide the missiles only when the American side approves it," Zelenskyy said.

He said the US had sent most of its interceptors to the Middle East.

On 19 October, Zelenskyy told US senators that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was not signing off on Patriot deliveries allies had already paid for. Axios obtained the call transcript from Ukrainian officials. A US government official told the Kyiv Independent that Ukrainian officials' claims that Hegseth was holding up the missiles were "not true."

Washington says nothing has changed. "We have our own needs, too," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on 20 October, but there is "nothing being deliberately denied to Ukraine." Hegseth told reporters in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, that the US had not changed its posture toward Ukraine, "but certainly with things like interceptors, we want to make sure our guys have the most possible as well."

Ukraine has just become the first country with which NATO’s weapons-buying agency has ever established a dedicated partnership. Under a new agreement, Kyiv has gained the right to purchase weapons through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), and Ukrainian firms can bid on its tenders, the Defense Ministry reports.

The deal, approved by the Ukrainian government in August and signed last week, is called the Security Cooperation Support Partnership. Through it, Ukraine can tap the agency’s 45 procurement partnerships, which cover the purchase, maintenance, and lifecycle support of weapons systems.

A single window into NATO’s arms market

For Ukraine’s military, the partnership is meant to make buying faster and cheaper. Orders can run through existing NSPA contracts or through new tenders, including an emergency-procurement track, and pooling Ukraine’s needs with those of other countries is designed to sharpen prices.

The purchases can be paid for from Ukraine’s state budget, by international partners, or through joint financing.

“Ukraine is the first and only country, and a non-member of NATO at that, for which a separate partnership was created as a single entry point to the agency’s work, and Ukrainian industry was given broad access to the agency’s tenders,” said Deputy Defense Minister Mstyslav Banik.

And a way in for Ukraine’s arms makers

The agreement cuts both ways, too. Ukrainian defense companies can now register in the agency’s supplier database, submit proposals, compete in tenders on equal footing with foreign firms, and sign contracts with NSPA under a mechanism that runs for five years from April 2025.

“We want our partners to gain access to this experience and these technologies, and Ukrainian producers to gain new opportunities for cooperation,” said Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Hvozdiar.

This is a partnership that benefits both sides, the Ukrainian official added.

The signing was announced on 14 October at an NSPA industry event in Kyiv that drew about 150 Ukrainian defense manufacturers.