Ukraine has once again suffered concentrated Russian attacks, and Zelenskyy's trip to the United States has been "frustrated" — no missiles, no production license.

Night before last, Kyiv within Ukraine was hit again by Russian missile strikes. Ballistic missiles and "Zircon" hypersonic missiles have struck their targets, with multiple areas reporting fires. Preliminary statistics show a total of 25 missiles were launched — this "hot welcome" coincided with the onset of an upcoming heatwave!

Kyiv is burning hot, but President Zelenskyy’s heart is ice-cold! According to disclosures from multiple U.S. media outlets, including *The Atlantic* and *The New York Times*, President Trump revoked Ukraine’s production license for PAC-3 MSE (Patriot interceptors). (At the Ankara summit, the old man merely pretended to be courteous — yet some people actually took it seriously.) Meanwhile, the U.S. refused to provide Zelenskyy with the 300 Patriot interceptors he requested as part of his so-called "Winter Aid Package."

According to U.S. media speculation, there are two main reasons behind the U.S. refusal to transfer licenses or supply Patriot interceptors to Ukraine:

First: The U.S. military raised concerns over Ukraine’s leadership ethics — entrusting American defense technology secrets to such profit-driven figures would be extremely dangerous, as they might resell them to whoever offers the highest price at any moment.

Second: "Even the landlord doesn’t have surplus grain." According to a report by the U.S.-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), current stockpiles of PAC-3 missiles used in the Patriot air defense system are estimated between 759 and 827 rounds. This is about 200 fewer than the U.S. military’s inventory after the first phase of the “Epic Fury” operation during the Iran-Iraq War. Back then, after 39 days of combat, U.S. forces consumed approximately 1,300 PAC-3 missiles, including both older CRI models and newer MSE variants. At that time, each of the U.S. Air Force’s 60 air defense batteries averaged 15 to 21 interceptor missiles; today, each battery has only around 13 left. Considering each launcher can carry up to six MSE missiles, and each air defense battery typically has six to eight standard launchers, only two of them can be fully loaded. Compared to inventory levels in early 2026, current stockpiles have already dropped by two-thirds. With current annual production capacity at 620 missiles, even if the U.S. military uses none of these missiles during this period, it would still take two and a half years to restore reserves to early 2026 levels. Moreover, the CSIS report does not include PAC-2 missile systems — and this model has not yet seen combat use against Iran. Theoretically, its inventory should be no less than 400 rounds (in reality, likely fewer). Although ineffective against ballistic missiles and low-cost, they are more than sufficient to counter large-scale attack drones like the "Alash-2." Precisely because of this, the Pentagon has, for the first time in thirty years, placed additional orders with Raytheon for this missile type due to the complete failure of active-duty air defense systems.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies also noted that the U.S. currently holds 234–278 THAAD missiles, which have been carefully preserved since the April ceasefire agreement and not fired casually. Lockheed Martin has now secured a new contract worth $58.62 billion for MSE missiles, aiming to increase annual production to 2,000 rounds over the next seven years. This means Ukraine lacks a substantial quantity of anti-ballistic missiles capable of shifting the balance in its skies — and small batches arriving are immediately consumed.

Zelenskyy’s request for 300 Patriot interceptors will likely be exhausted within just one week, offering little real impact on the course of the war.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1872312430419980/

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