Zelenskyy presses for Patriot missiles as audit exposes gaps in Ukraine's shelter network

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy renewed his push…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy renewed his push for American-made Patriot missile interceptors on Thursday, hours after an overnight Russian assault on Kyiv killed at least 10 people and wounded dozens more, according to Ukrainian officials.

"The world has Patriot missiles. What matters now is for our partners to make the political decision to provide the necessary packages. The United States knows what we need. Europe knows what we need," Zelenskyy said in a video message shared on X. "Anti-ballistic missiles must protect people – not sit in stockpiles."

The appeal came as a former Ukrainian government official told Fox News Digital that the country's civilian protection crisis extends far beyond air defenses, pointing to what she called "scandalous situations" in a widening bomb shelter investigation that has allegedly exposed serious flaws despite billions spent on construction and repairs.

Kyiv is also conducting its own audit of

Kyiv is also conducting its own audit of shelter spending, according to local reports. "It's not possible to keep begging for missiles all the time. This is not how one protects the population," said Luliia Mendel, a former spokesperson for the Ukrainian government. "Zelenskyy is shifting responsibility onto the United States and Western partners for the lack of protection inside Ukraine."

Mendel described how Ukrainians have begun joking about drawing "anti-drone curtains" and closing "anti-missile windows" to highlight that their survival depends more on luck than on systematic state protection. "Scandalous situations keep arising," she said, "where people have no chance to take cover. Many still lack shelters close enough to reach quickly every time danger strikes."

Ukraine and Finland launched the Civil Protection Shelter Coalition in May 2025 to help implement Ukraine's civil defense strategy through 2034. At the coalition's inaugural meeting in late November, members pledged more than 22 million euros to support shelter construction and modernization. But Ukraine's Human Rights Commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, said in June that his office inspected 1,066 bomb shelters nationwide and found deficiencies in 93% of them, according to The Ukrainian Week. Some were locked, flooded, or otherwise unusable, while others were inaccessible to people with disabilities.

Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi ordered a nationwide ins…

Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi ordered a nationwide inspection of civil defense shelters on July 30 after a major Russian missile attack, following reports that some civilians could not access shelters during the assault. Kyiv has spent billions of hryvnias on bomb shelters since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, with Mayor Vitali Klitschko earmarking more than 1.1 billion hryvnias for repairs in 2026 after spending roughly 7 billion from 2022 through 2025. On July 10, he ordered an audit of how district administrations used those funds. Some residents have turned to bathrooms or corridors for cover, offering little protection from a direct hit, while others relocate to basements at risk of being buried under rubble. One woman said she was denied entry to a shelter because of her dog, and another said she must rent a hotel room to access its shelter. Many others sleep in underground parking garages.

"Thousands of shelters fail to meet basic standards, and mandatory evacuations from dozens of villages and towns in the front-line regions are being announced on a regular basis as Russia expands its fire control," Mendel explained. "Ukraine's civilian population is largely unprotected, not solely because of shortages of missiles, but because of the absence of any comprehensive system that would give people reliable places to shelter and the means to survive." Zelenskyy told Axios on July 29 that he had asked President Trump for an emergency shipment of about 300 Patriot interceptors ahead of winter, saying Ukraine "needed the Patriots yesterday" and warning that domestic production could take one to five years. "I'm not sure that 300 Patriot missiles would be helpful," Mendel said. "Russia has also intensified its use of guided aerial bombs across the front-line regions, from northern Sumy to southern Kherson, expanding its fire control. No missile system can stop that."

Mendel warned that without a comprehensive overhaul of Ukraine's civilian defense system, the country faces an increasingly dire humanitarian situation. "Zelenskyy and his government are already warning that the winter will be even harsher than the last one, preparing the public for a humanitarian catastrophe," she said. "But Ukraine has not designed a system that would be able to protect its population. Zelenskyy will continue demanding more support and missiles while shifting responsibility." During a recent appearance on Fox News' "Hannity," Zelenskyy said Trump had "accepted that he will give us licenses" to produce the interceptors in Ukraine. Trump later said no agreement had been reached and that the administration was still discussing the proposal. "I don't think this would ever happen, but, you know, there's people that, you give that technology, they can someday turn on you," Trump told reporters at Camp David on July 31. "So we have to be very careful."