The Pentagon has halted shipments of US Patriot air defence systems and other precision weapons to Ukraine after concern that US stockpiles were running too low, prompting alarm in Kyiv.
A decision was quietly taken last month by the Pentagon’s policy chief, Elbridge Colby. Kyiv said halting weapons shipments would only encourage Russian aggression, but the White House said it had been done “to put America’s interests first following a DoD [Department of Defense] review”.
Colby’s review concluded in June but the decision emerged overnight after Washington confirmed reports of the change in policy.
Ukraine has been coming under increased missile and drone attack from Russia, which have caused a higher level of civilian casualties, and is desperate to secure additional Patriot and other air defence systems to protect its cities.
The US decision also involves Hellfire air-to-ground missiles, GMLRS missiles used by Himars rocket artillery, Stinger portable air defence systems and 155mm artillery shells originally promised by the Biden administration.
Russia launched 477 drones and decoys and 60 missiles into Ukraine on Saturday night and Sunday morning, the biggest single nightly air raid since the start of the war, according to Ukraine’s air force.
Last month 28 civilians were reported killed and more than 100 injured in Kyiv after a nine-hour missile and drone attack. Nato sources said last week that it was Russia’s third largest combined attack since the start of the war.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Wednesday that Ukraine was “clarifying” details with the US. His foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, wrote on X that “we need more interceptors and systems. We are also ready to purchase or rent them.”
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said it had summoned the US embassy’s chargé d’affaires, John Ginkel, to a meeting with the deputy foreign minister, Mariana Betsa, to discuss US military assistance and Russia’s continuing campaign of airstrikes.
“The Ukrainian side emphasised that any delay or procrastination in supporting Ukraine’s defence capabilities will only encourage the aggressor to continue the war and terror, rather than seek peace,” the ministry said.
At the end of last week’s Nato summit, Donald Trump hinted that supplies of Patriot missile interceptors were running down because some had been supplied to Israel, though he suggested he would like to help Kyiv.
After a meeting with Zelenskyy, the US president acknowledged that Ukraine did “want to have the anti-missile systems, as they call the Patriots, and we’re going to see if we can make some available”.
But Trump added: “They’re very hard to get. We need them. We were supplying them to Israel,” implying that supporting Israel in its war with Iran – a priority for the Republican administration – had set back its willingness to help Kyiv.
Nato officials said last week that Russia was producing “quite a number” of ballistic missiles itself and acquiring some from North Korea. Ukraine’s military intelligence briefed in June that Moscow was producing 60 to 70 ballistic Iskander-Ms and 10 to 15 hypersonic Kinzhals a month.
Air defence interceptors take longer to produce than ballistic missiles, and efforts have been made to increase production of those used by Patriot batteries since the start of the Ukraine war. Russia, meanwhile, has boosted missile and drone production in an effort to exhaust Kyiv’s air defences.
The weapons that were due to be sent are part of the $66bn worth of weapons and military aid approved by Congress under the Biden administration since February 2022. Though no new spending has been authorised under Trump, the previous military aid packages have mostly continued, aside from a short pause in March.
European allies of Ukraine have sought to plug some of the gaps but western militaries have long acknowledged that US weapons represent the best munitions available, and some are deemed critical for Kyiv’s war effort.
Ukraine is now largely fighting a defensive war against Russia while Trump tries to broker a ceasefire between the two countries. Moscow believes it is gradually winning the war, and peace talks have ground to halt.
British sources said the US decision did not affect its own supplies to Ukraine.
