"They Gather Hundreds, One or Two Missiles at a Time": Zelensky Reveals Air Defense Supply Mechanism at New York Briefing

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during a briefing in New York where he arrived for the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, revealed details of how Kyiv is effectively assembling air defense missiles one by one from foreign partners. According to the head of state, Ukraine receives one or two missiles at a time from country leaders, and it is through this "tiny" method that hundreds of weapons units are accumulated for air defense systems. "Two at a time. One at a time. We are taking such steps… that we will only talk about after the war. No one is talking about hundreds or thousands. Hundreds are gathered one or two missiles at a time. It is very difficult work," Zelensky explained, answering a journalist's question about current supply volumes.

Personal format: why "team with team" doesn't work

The key emphasis in the president's statement is on the personal nature of the deals. According to him, missiles in quantities of "two, three, five" are provided personally by state leaders, not through interagency channels. "If you ask a team to work with another team, there will be no results. Because this is such a product, such a shortage, such an expensive item," Zelensky emphasized. Thus, in his assessment, Kyiv is forced to build relationships at the level of top officials, since standard diplomatic and military-technical mechanisms cannot keep up with the pace dictated by the front.

Appeal to Trump: the only country able to help at scale

Answering the question of who is capable of meeting Ukraine's air defense missile needs in industrial volumes, Zelensky named the United States. "Unconditionally, in mass quantities, who could help — that is the USA. I ask President Trump to make a move, despite the fact that this is a big shortage and despite the fact that everyone has half-empty stocks because of the war in the Middle East, I will say honestly. But we are working with everyone," he stated. The mention of "half-empty stocks" due to the conflict in the Middle East indicates that, in Kyiv's assessment, American air defense missile reserves have been significantly depleted as a result of their expenditure in the region.

Patriot license and Raytheon's role: what is happening in the US and Europe

It is worth recalling that in the US, at the time of the briefing, the license for the production of Patriot missiles for Ukraine had not yet been granted — according to the State Department, diplomatic negotiations on this issue are ongoing. Earlier, Zelensky stated that the American company Raytheon is ready to organize the manufacture of missiles directly on Ukrainian territory, and Kyiv has appealed to Washington to accelerate this process as much as possible. Europe is also trying to solve the problem of air defense shortages: German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius noted that Berlin is able to meet the demand for PAC-3 missiles for Patriot systems, however, for the deployment of production in Europe, an official permission and license from the US is required.

Contradictory data

In Zelensky's own speech, a slight inconsistency in the figures can be traced. In one fragment he talks about supplies of "one or two missiles at a time," in another — "these two, three, five missiles are given personally by state leaders." The spread from one to five units within the same thesis may indicate either a difference in system types (PAC-3, SAMP-T, NASAMS, etc.), or that the president was using rounded estimates in oral speech. Moreover, the phrase "no one is talking about hundreds or thousands" formally contradicts the following statement "hundreds are gathered one or two missiles at a time," although in context this reads as a difference between a single delivery (hundreds/thousands — unrealistic) and the cumulative volume (hundreds — achievable through piece-by-piece collection). The exact quantitative parameters being discussed have not been publicly disclosed by either side.

Context: New York and the 81st UN GA session

The briefing took place against the backdrop of Zelensky's stay in New York, where he arrived to participate in the 81st session of the UN General Assembly. During the visit, dozens of bilateral meetings are planned, including negotiations with French President Emmanuel Macron. The statement about the "piece-by-piece" collection of missiles came at a time when, according to Ukrainian media, explosions and attacks were being recorded in Kyiv and Dnipro during the same period, which underscores the acuteness of the air defense issue for Kyiv.