Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyi speaks to the media as he arrives at a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Yves Herman Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab
July 6 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy lamented a shortage of arms to defend Ukraine against Russian ballistic missiles on Monday and said it was "absurd" that production could not meet demand to protect people.
"It is simply absurd that, in the modern world, production has still not been scaled up to the level actually required to protect people from ballistic terror," he said in his nightly video address.
Zelenskiy said Ukraine had the know-how to produce the weapons and if it received U.S. licences to manufacture U.S. Patriot systems "our production would be sufficient not only to defend Ukraine but also to assist partners who need them.
Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar, Editing by Franklin Paul
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marsisblack on July 6th, 2026 at 21:04 UTC »
US defense industry should be cautious because if you dont provide then it drives others to innovate and develop their own version. Ukraine has shown they are very good with innovating and doing on their own. They just make their own, test it and develop and become a mass producer. Uh oh
BringbackDreamBars on July 6th, 2026 at 20:29 UTC »
Remember kids, the military industrial complex isn't about saving lives, its about making fat stacks of money.
xondk on July 6th, 2026 at 20:20 UTC »
Honestly from what I read somewhere else, someone pointed out that producing more missile defence arms more effectively would mean they would earn less per missile.
And honestly......I could see that being the reason.