With no ceasefire with Russia in sight, Patriot missile systems are vital to Ukraine’s survival.
Donald Trump just announced that the U.S. will be sending much more sophisticated weapons to Ukraine, including Patriot Missile Defence systems. Though Trump had initially slowed down air defence aid to Ukraine (with its last major shipment in January), after weeks of heavy Russian aerial attacks, the administration is making a U-turn.
While not a game-changer in the war in Ukraine, the delivery of Patriot surface-to-air missile systems is by far the most powerful tool Ukraine has to protect its skies from Russian aerial attacks. Without Patriot missile defence systems, Russia can continue its devastating aerial bombardments—not only on major Ukrainian cities but on vital infrastructure, including weapons factories and power plants.
As of 2025, Russian missile strikes had destroyed 80% of Ukraine’s thermal generation capacity, while Ukraine’s most notable hydroelectric power plants had also been damaged. Russia also continues to target Ukraine’s natural gas infrastructure and its energy grids. These attacks don’t just cause blackouts—they risk triggering large-scale industrial disasters, and regional flooding.
Additionally, as Russia has lost a staggering number of troops (reportedly 780,000 have been killed or injured), it has escalated brazen attacks on Ukrainian civilians, which further highlights Ukraine’s need for robust air defence.
Though Ukraine is also dealing with its own fatigue, its ability to shoot down Russian drones and cruise missiles has remained impressive. Ukraine intercepted about 70-80% of Russian cruise missiles in the early part of the war.
And thus far, the Patriot missile system has performed extremely well in Ukraine, defending against Russian-made Kinzhal and Iskander ballistic missiles. The Russians initially boasted that the Kinzhal was impossible to intercept due to its reported speed of up to 7,700 miles per hour (or Mach 10), but Patriot systems in Ukraine have repeatedly proven effective even on hypersonic missiles —going beyond what the Patriot was designed to do. Additionally, when Ukraine deployed a Patriot system near the front line in February of 2024, it shot down more than 10 Russian aircraft in one month.
Ukraine has also managed to thwart attempts to destroy the air defence systems themselves. On June 28th, 2023, Russia used some of its most advanced and expensive missiles to try to damage Patriot batteries protecting Kiev, but the Patriot system shot down the 34 Iskander and Kinzhal ballistic missiles fired.
