Kyiv's Empty Quiver: Ukraine Is Running Out of Patriot Interceptors — and Rewriting the Rules of Missile Defense
Russia hit Kyiv twice in under a week — one barrage of 68 missiles and 351 strike drones, per President Zelensky, followed days later by ballistic missile strikes that killed roughly a dozen people and flattened apartment blocks. The strikes got through not because Russia found a clever new tactic, but because Ukraine is running short of Patriot interceptors — the missiles that shoot down other missiles. This is a preview of a hard truth in modern warfare: missile defense isn't a shield, it's a stockpile. And stockpiles run out.
Bottom Line
Kyiv's undefended skies are the visible symptom of an invisible ledger: interceptors are being expended faster than the world can build them, and Russia is deliberately running that ledger down. The lesson extends far beyond Ukraine — modern air defense is an endurance contest, and right now the attackers have the deeper magazine. How the U.S. and its allies respond to that math will shape deterrence for a decade.