MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces are experiencing serious problems with the availability of missiles for the Patriot air defense system, however, they may still have a concealed reserve of ammunition set aside for the most critical targets, a Russian defense source told TASS.
"To be honest, things are pretty bad for the Ukrainian armed forces [regarding Patriot missiles]. They expected [US President Donald] Trump to give them some. But the Middle East crisis showed the Americans that, as it turns out, these are quite expensive and they need them for themselves. I think they do have some reserves after all--well, they’re probably keeping them for some super-strategic targets. It’s not as if they don’t have a single missile. But their situation with ammunition for the Patriot systems is very serious," said the source.
He noted that the global shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles has intensified following their large-scale use in the Middle East. "They can only produce about 600-700 of them per year in total. They [the US] used up about 700 missiles in the Strait of Hormuz alone, firing them at Iran in coordination with Israel. Overall, the situation is really bad, but most likely, they’re reserving the missiles for high-value targets, so to speak," the source added.
Referring to the state of the Ukrainian air force, the source noted that the situation "leaves much to be desired," and the aircraft fleet is being pushed to its limits. "At the start of the special military operation, there were somewhere around 250 [aircraft], if I’m not mistaken. Lately, [the Russian Armed Forces] have been downing the Su-27 and MiG-29 fighter jets. So, it turns out that all of the aircraft have been given away by our former [Warsaw Pact] countries, to whom we supplied them back in the day," he said.