Zelensky floats swapping Patriot missiles for interceptor drones amid increased Iranian Shahed threat
President Volodymyr Zelensky on March 3 floated swapping U.S.-made Patriot interceptor missiles for Ukrainian interceptor drones, amid Iran's recent strikes in the Middles East using Shahed attack drones.
Ukraine has a severe shortage of PAC-3 missiles, used to defend against Russia's frequent ballistic missile attacks.
Conversely, the U.S. forces and its allies in the Middle East have come under heavy bombardment from Shahed drones after the launch of U.S.-Israeli strikes over the weekend, and Ukraine is the only country with the experience of producing and using the interceptor drones that can stop them.
"Of course, this is everyone's number one question — how to protect the sky," Zelensky said at a briefing with journalists attended by the Kyiv Independent.
Zelensky noted that the U.S. and other countries have stockpiles of Patriot interceptor missiles.
"But does it protect against hundreds of Shaheds? No, and we have a shortage of PAC-3s," he said.
"If they give them to us, we will give them interceptors. It is an equal exchange."
A shortage of air defense missiles has left some Ukrainian air defense systems empty at times, including in early February, amid the threat of further Russian attacks, Yurii Ihnat, head of the Air Force's communications department, said in a Feb. 2 interview with RBC Ukraine.
