Ukraine strikes 'very important' deal on new batch of Patriot missiles, Zelensky says

Ukraine has made a "very important" agreement on an upcoming package of missiles for U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sept. 24 at a meeting with representatives of the Ukrainian community in the United States.

The announcement comes as Kyiv faces a critical shortage of air defense munitions, particularly of Patriots — the only weapons capable of reliably intercepting Russian ballistic missiles.

Zelensky told leaders of the Ukrainian community in the U.S. that more Patriot interceptors would be heading to Kyiv soon, though he did not disclose the country that will be providing the missiles.

"Today we reached an agreement — I won't say with whom — on a shipment of missiles for the Patriot systems," the president said, according to the Ukrainian outlet European Pravda.

"It's an important decision, a very important one. We've achieved a result."

Zelensky did not say when the missiles would be delivered or how many Ukraine would receive.

The news comes during Zelensky's visit to the U.S., where he has addressed the United Nations General Assembly and met with various world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump. He and Trump spoke about Ukraine's urgent need for Patriot supplies as winter nears, but no concrete decisions were announced following their talks.

Congressional records dated Sept. 15 indicate that the U.S. is ready to greenlight a transfer of 10 Patriot interceptors from Germany to Ukraine, though it is unclear when exactly Kyiv would receive the shipment. The package is valued at $29.6 million.

The U.S. State Department then announced on Sept. 18 that it had approved a possible sale of air defense equipment for Ukraine worth $2.7 billion. The package includes S-300 Clone and GAM-67 missiles, radar systems for countering drones, range-extended laser-guided air defense systems, counter-drone radars, and mobile launcher modification kits.

Since Trump took office again in 2025, the U.S. has ended large-scale defense funding and arms deliveries to Ukraine, leaving Kyiv to rely on support from other partners to obtain key weapons systems.

Patriot interceptors have been even harder to come by as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has diverted supplies to the Middle East.