Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent a direct, urgent appeal to U.S. President Donald Trump and the United States Congress on May 26, 2026, requesting immediate replenishment of Patriot air defense systems and interceptor missiles. The letter, timed to coincide with Memorial Day in the United States, follows what Ukrainian officials described as an unprecedentedly massive Russian aerial assault on the night of May 24.
According to the communication sent from Kyiv, the Russian strike deployment included 54 cruise missiles, 30 ballistic missiles, three Tsirkon hypersonic missiles, two Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles, and an unspecified number of Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missiles. The barrage also utilized approximately 600 attack drones, primarily Iranian-designed Shahed models.
The letter confirmed that the strikes resulted in casualties, with nearly 100 people injured and several killed. In terms of infrastructural damage, the bombardment hit 352 residential buildings, 19 educational institutions, a local market in Kyiv, the National Art Museum, and entirely destroyed the newly renovated Chornobyl Museum ahead of its 40th anniversary.
While Zelenskyy highlighted that Ukraine has achieved a drone interception rate exceeding 90 percent—even deploying Ukrainian specialists to the Middle East and Gulf region to help protect local airspace and U.S. military bases—he emphasized that the nation remains entirely vulnerable to ballistic threats without American hardware. Ukraine currently relies almost exclusively on the United States for ballistic missile defense.
The request specifically noted that deliveries through the European-funded PURL program, which purchases American Patriot missiles with European money, are no longer keeping pace with the rate of Russian strikes. Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine is prepared to purchase the systems and PAC-3 interceptor missiles directly, and has proposed a long-term plan for the joint production of Patriot technology in Europe under complete U.S. ownership and control.
The correspondence credited past U.S. military aid decisions with pivotally altering the course of the conflict, specifically citing the 2018 provision of Javelin anti-tank missiles, HIMARS rocket systems, ATACMS long-range missiles, Bradley fighting vehicles, and F-16 fighter jets. Ukrainian pilots have logged more than 2,700 combat missions in the F-16 platforms to date.
Zelenskyy argued that Russia’s ballistic arsenal remains its last major conventional advantage on the battlefield, stating that Russian officials are currently threatening to turn the massive holiday-eve strikes into a systematic campaign. The letter concluded with a formal request for the U.S. to supply additional Patriot PAC-3 systems to counter the escalating ballistic threat and force a diplomatic resolution.
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