Zelensky Urges NATO for Patriot Missiles at Ankara Summit
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- Zelensky told NATO allies in Ankara that Ukraine can handle everything "except air defence," urging partners to hand over Patriot stockpiles after Russian strikes killed more than 50 Kyiv civilians in under a week.
- Russia's ballistic missiles bypassed Ukraine's defences completely in Monday's attack — not one was intercepted — and Zelensky slammed the lack of scaled-up Patriot production as "absurd," noting missiles travel at several thousand kilometres an hour.
- Ukraine's drone campaign hit an oil refinery in Omsk, Siberia — 2,500 km from the border — alongside earlier strikes on a St Petersburg oil terminal and a Moscow refinery, with Moscow intercepting "most" of 430 overnight drones fired at the Russian capital.
- Russia is now rationing petrol with citizens queuing for hours to fight over limited supply, while Crimea is under an official state of emergency after Ukrainian strikes hit military logistics, refineries and power plants almost daily.
- Zelensky framed the strikes as an "influence campaign" designed to pressure Putin into peace talks, explicitly rejecting Moscow's "terrorism" label and ruling out surrendering the entire Donbas region.
- Trump spoke to Putin for 90 minutes by phone earlier this week, and Zelensky plans to use the Ankara summit to press his case that Russia's "brutal" attacks signal weakness, not strength, ahead of another winter.
Why it matters: Ukraine failed to intercept a single ballistic missile in Monday's attack because there are not enough Patriot systems worldwide to counter them, leaving Kyiv's cities exposed as winter approaches and as Russia escalates. Meanwhile, Ukraine's strikes have forced fuel rationing and a state of emergency in Crimea, suggesting Kyiv's pressure campaign may be hitting Russia harder than its own air defence shortage — but Zelensky still needs Western interceptors to turn that leverage into a peace deal Trump is willing to back.
