# Zelensky Warns Ukraine Has Only ‘1%’ of Needed U.S. Air-Defense Missiles Before Winter

*Thursday, August 13, 2026 at 6:20 AM UTC — Hamer Intelligence Services Desk*

**Published**: 2026-08-13T06:20:24.437Z (2h ago)
**Category**: geopolitics | **Region**: Eastern Europe
**Importance**: 9/10
**Sources**: OSINT
**Permalink**: https://hamerintel.com/data/articles/14222.md
**Source**: https://hamerintel.com/summaries

---

**Deck**: President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine currently has only about 1% of the U.S.-made air-defense missiles it needs for the coming winter, urging Washington to sell as little as 5–10% of its stock. For Ukrainian cities and power plants already scarred by blackouts, the gap is not an abstraction but a measure of how exposed they will be to Russian ballistic strikes in the cold months ahead.

Ukraine’s president has issued one of his starkest warnings yet about the country’s air-defense shortfall, telling U.S. media that Kyiv has barely a fraction of the missiles it needs to shield its people and energy grid from Russian attacks this winter. In an interview broadcast on 13 August, Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine currently has about 1% of the U.S.-made surface-to-air missiles it requires and appealed for Washington to sell a small slice of its own stockpile to help close the gap. “Ukraine needs only 5% of the U.S. air-defense missiles to get through the winter and save lives,” Zelensky said in remarks translated from Ukrainian. “If they can sell us…

---

*Full article available with Hamer Intel Pro — https://hamerintel.com/pricing*