On the evening of May 27 local time, Ukrainian President ZELENSKIY said in a
video statement he had written to U.S. President TRUMP and the U.S. Congress,
urging prompt U.S. assistance to strengthen Ukraine's ballistic missile defence
capability. He said it is rare for foreign leaders to write both the president
and Congress, underlining the urgency of the situation, and argued Ukraine must
further bolster its missile-defence capacity to pave the way for diplomacy and
advance the peace process. The letter, he said, urgently requests more Patriot
PAC-3 interceptors and other air-defense systems to counter Russian
ballistic-missile strikes. ZELENSKIY wrote that U.S. weapons stocks have been
depleted by a war with Iran, producing a "dangerous shortfall" in military aid
bound for Ukraine. He added Ukraine has raised its drone-interception rate to
above 90%, and that during the US–Israel–Iran conflict Ukrainian experts helped
Gulf states strengthen air defences and even assisted U.S. military bases in the
Middle East. AP said this was meant to signal Ukraine has "reciprocated" for
U.S. security. ZELENSKIY wrote Ukraine currently cannot produce missile-defence
systems domestically and is "almost completely dependent on the United States"
in this area.
