The Daily Populous Friday March 6th, 2026 evening edition
Authored by kyivindependent.com and submitted by KI_official

In just three days of fighting in the Middle East, more than 800 Patriot missiles were used — more than Ukraine has received throughout the entire Russian full-scale invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a press briefing on March 5.

The statement comes as tensions continue to escalate in the Middle East after the U.S., in a joint operation with Israel, carried out strikes on several Iranian cities on Feb. 28 that killed Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

"Ukraine has never had this many missiles to repel attacks. More than 800 have been used over the past three days alone," Zelensky said.

Zelensky said that when Ukraine first faced Iranian Shahed-type drones in 2022, it used "everything it had" to repel the attacks. Yet the president added that Ukraine has since gained significant experience in countering such strikes.

"Everyone understands that Patriot (missiles) are not enough," Zelensky said.

Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine is ready to provide drone interceptors in exchange for missiles, though he did not specify which countries could be involved.

Zelensky added that Ukraine is prepared to share its expertise with countries facing Iranian attacks to help protect civilians and oil infrastructure in the Middle East.

American-made Patriot interceptor missiles are among the few weapons capable of effectively intercepting the ballistic missiles Russia uses to strike Ukraine.

The latest variant of these interceptors is the Patriot PAC-3. Unlike its predecessor, the Patriot PAC-2 GEM-T, the PAC-3 uses hit-to-kill technology, destroying incoming warheads through direct impact rather than a fragmentation blast.

Although its range is shorter — typically around 35 to 50 kilometers (20 to 30 miles) — it offers greater precision and is specifically designed to counter high-speed ballistic threats.

The war in the Middle East could further limit the supply of these scarce missiles, raising concerns in Kyiv about potential disruptions to deliveries from Ukraine's partners.

"Of course, this issue concerns us. So far, there has been no such signal from the Americans or Europeans," Zelensky told journalists on March 2.

"Everyone understands that the right weapons are our lifeline."

triflingmagoo on March 6th, 2026 at 17:18 UTC »

Doesn’t lol good for the long haul. You don’t need to be a military analyst or hardened military career person to understand that the US is not ready for this illegal war.

AeroFred on March 6th, 2026 at 16:25 UTC »

Yes, probably more patriot missiles were used. There is also chance that in last 3 days were shot by Iran more ballistic missiles than by Russia starting with 2022.

Many patriot systems in middle east are actually owned by local countries

Sprintzer on March 6th, 2026 at 15:41 UTC »

It’s an embarrassment that US anti-drone warfare capabilities are so lackluster in terms of affordability. This should have been the #1 spending item in the research and development of the Pentagon.

Furthermore, US interceptor manufacturing should have been ramped up years ago. In a conflict with China we would deplete our entire stocks rapidly.

It’s also crazy that we were willing to give Ukraine loads of weapons and money but we never thought to ramp up PATRIOT manufacturing for them (and also Tomahawks, SM-3, SM-6, etc)