Yet without them, Ukraine’s skies are wide open.
“Ballistic missile interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed today,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Last week, following another deadly attack in which only one out of 27 missiles was shot down, he warned that a shortage of interceptors “encourages Russia to launch such attacks that take human lives”.
On Wednesday again Zelensky made a direct link between the delays in supply and the “horrific casualties and destruction” witnessed regularly across Ukraine.
“Quite literally every single day, the lives of people here in Ukraine depend on the decisiveness of our partners in Europe and America,” he said later, adding he had spoken to Nato chief Mark Rutte about getting interceptor missiles.
Ukraine has an undisclosed number of Patriot systems, but it is the Patriot interceptor missiles which are in short supply.
It takes at least two to bring down each incoming ballistic missile and the system has a range of around 160km (99m), so effectively placing units can be difficult.
Russia, meanwhile, uses on average between 20 and 30 ballistic missiles each time it carries out large-scale strikes on Ukraine.
Ukrainian military expert and former intelligence service officer Ivan Stupak says the lack of interceptors left Kyiv in a situation comparable to having a supercar in the garage but no petrol.
“Imagine you own a Lamborghini but have no fuel,” he tells the BBC. “You have one of the best cars in the world, but you can’t drive anywhere… The situation with Patriot is similar. The systems are there, but there are no interceptor missiles.”
A lack of Patriot missiles leaves the whole country exposed – including the valuable Patriot systems.
“Now the question is how to protect the systems themselves from being destroyed,” Stupak says. “Because they could very well become priority targets for the Russian Federation.
“Until we receive more interceptor missiles, these systems need to be relocated or concealed somehow so the Russians cannot detect and destroy them. Right now they’re extremely vulnerable.”
