Zelenskyy Formally Requests PAC-3 Missiles From Trump and Congress

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent a letter to President Donald Trump and Congress on May 27, 2026, formally requesting additional PAC-3 interceptor missiles and Patriot air defense systems, warning that deliveries under the current U.S. supply mechanism have fallen critically short of operational requirements. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter, in which Zelenskyy urged Trump and Congress to supply more Patriot PAC-3 missiles and other air defense systems, warning that deliveries to Ukraine are falling dangerously short as the Iran war diverts U.S. stocks. Presidential communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn confirmed the appeal was addressed simultaneously to the president and to Congress. Zelenskyy warned of Ukraine's worsening shortage of air defense systems, particularly anti-ballistic missile capabilities.

The letter arrived days after one of the heaviest Russian aerial assaults on the Ukrainian capital on record. Russian forces launched a large-scale combined missile and drone attack overnight on May 24, targeting mainly Kyiv and the surrounding region; Ukraine's Air Force reported that Russia deployed 90 missiles and 600 drones in an attack that lasted several hours. President Zelenskyy said four people were killed and almost 100 others injured across the country as a result. The Kyiv City Military Administration characterized the strike as the largest attack against Kyiv of the entire full-scale war in terms of locations damaged. Russia also deployed the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile during the assault. Zelenskyy confirmed this was the third time Russia had used the Oreshnik against Ukraine; the strike targeted Bila Tserkva, a town approximately 50 miles south of Kyiv. The United States classifies the Oreshnik as an intermediate-range missile capable of carrying multiple conventional or nuclear warheads, and its speed and trajectory make it nearly unstoppable by the air defense systems currently available to Ukraine.

The letter invokes Ukraine's near-total dependence on American technology for ballistic missile defense. Zelenskyy wrote that "when it comes to defending against ballistic missiles, we rely almost exclusively on the United States." The letter states that "the current pace of deliveries through the PURL program is no longer keeping up with the reality of the threat we face." Ukraine's supply request moves through the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL, the mechanism the Trump administration established in July 2025 after it stopped directly donating interceptors. Under that arrangement, the administration stopped outright donating missiles and instead began selling them to NATO countries, which then transfer them to Ukraine; the mechanism is called the PURL program. The letter also proposes expanding production capacity. Ukraine proposed a long-term path for expanding the joint production of Patriot systems and missiles with U.S. allies in Europe, fully under American control as the technology owner. Zelenskyy also wrote that Ukraine is prepared to purchase the necessary number of Patriot systems and interceptor missiles outright.

The supply picture is constrained by competing global demand. Since the U.S. war with Iran began on Feb. 28, 2026, the United States has used close to half its Patriot stockpile, an estimated 2,330 units, defending against Iranian ballistic missiles. Zelenskyy noted during a March press briefing that more than 800 Patriot missiles were used in the first three days of fighting in the Iran war, more than Ukraine had received throughout the entire Russian full-scale invasion. Production cannot absorb the shortfall quickly. CSIS data puts the current lead time on the newest Patriot variant, the PAC-3 MSE, at roughly 42 months from contract to delivery, while the U.S. produces fewer than 200 units per year under current capacity. Lockheed Martin plans to increase annual PAC-3 MSE production to 2,000 by 2030, up from the current 600. Ukraine has received just over 600 interceptors across four years of conflict. European Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius has said Ukraine needs as many as 2,000 Patriot missiles per year, yet Kyiv received just 600 interceptors over four years, according to an adviser to Zelenskyy.

European confidence in the PURL mechanism has eroded alongside the growing demand from the Iran theater. Officials say the Trump administration has not shipped weapons intended for Ukraine since strikes against Iran began. Officials have said Ukraine has nearly exhausted its PAC-3 interceptor missile stocks for Patriot air defense systems, and the Trump administration urged European states to transfer their own missile stockpiles to Ukraine, but some refused out of concern for their own security. The Pentagon notified Congress that it intended to divert approximately $750 million in funding provided by NATO countries through the PURL program to restock the U.S. military's own inventories, rather than send additional assistance to Ukraine. Signals from within the administration have been mixed. Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby told a meeting of Ukraine's military supporters that Washington is "prepared to continue helping through initiatives like PURL, but this support must not rely on significant U.S. contributions." The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which administers Foreign Military Sales under the Arms Export Control Act, would be the relevant authority for any approved transfer of PAC-3 systems. Congressional action, should it materialize, would likely proceed through the Senate Armed Services Committee or the House Foreign Affairs Committee, both of which have oversight jurisdiction over security assistance authorizations.

Ukraine's longer-term development of an indigenous ballistic missile defense capability offers no near-term relief. Ukraine is developing its own missile defense system, which it hopes to field by the end of 2027, but the technology is difficult to manufacture. Ukraine cannot yet produce its own anti-missile defense systems and, for ballistic missile threats specifically, remains structurally dependent on American interceptors. The letter represents Ukraine's most direct public appeal to both the executive and legislative branches since the administration restructured its aid posture last summer, and its arrival on Capitol Hill coincides with congressional debate over appropriations that could determine PURL's next funding tranche.