LONDON, February 9. /TASS/. Patriot air defense launchers sat empty last month amid the shortage of PAC-3 interceptor missiles for those in Kiev, the Financial Times (FT) reported.

According to the British newspaper, this left Ukraine unable to repel attacks which aggravated the situation with power supply.

Ukraine has declared a state of emergency situation in its energy sector. On January 31, Ukraine reported technological disruptions that affected the operation of two high-voltage lines and triggered rolling blackouts in the country’s power grid, leaving the capital and seven regions without electricity. Earlier reports said Kiev is experiencing blackouts of up to 20 hours per day.

Ukraine has repeatedly complained about the lack of air defenses previously. On January 30, Vladimir Zelensky stated that Ukraine had not received an additional shipment of Patriot missiles from the United States because European countries had not paid for the delivery under the PURL program.

The Russian side has repeatedly warned that pumping the Kiev regime with weapons will only protract the conflict.