What Is Ukraine’s Only Defense Against Russia’s Ballistic Missiles?

The critical role of Patriot air defense systems in Ukraine became evident in an Air Force report released on February 24, 2025—the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The report outlined the high-priority threats Ukrainian forces have successfully intercepted over this period.

A striking statistic: 135 intercepted Kh-47M2 Kinzhal and Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles. Ukraine only began successfully shooting down these threats after acquiring its first Patriot system and corresponding missiles from international partners. The very weapon Russia once boasted had “no analogs” was, for the first time, systematically neutralized by Ukraine’s air defenses.

This likely isn’t the full extent of Patriot’s impact. There is strong suspicion that the heavy Russian aviation losses in eastern Ukraine in February 2024 were also the result of Patriot operations. However, the Ukrainian Air Force has not commented on this, citing classified information—just as it does regarding Patriot’s overall effectiveness.

UNITED24 Media sources confirm that Ukraine only began intercepting ballistic missiles after deploying Patriot systems. No other air defense system in Ukraine’s arsenal is capable of doing so. Patriot is also highly effective against other threats, such as cruise missiles. However, due to limited missile supplies, Ukraine prioritizes its use against the most difficult Russian targets—those that pose the greatest threat to civilian areas and critical infrastructure.

What happens if the supply of Patriot missiles stops?

First and foremost, Ukraine’s energy infrastructure would suffer. On April 11, 2024, a Russian missile strike destroyed the Trypillia Thermal Power Plant, the largest electricity supplier for Kyiv and the surrounding region. The attack succeeded due to a shortage of interceptor missiles—Russia launched at least 11 missiles at the facility, Ukrainian forces intercepted only seven, and then they simply ran out of missiles. Throughout the spring of 2024, Russia carried out multiple large-scale strikes on Ukraine’s power grid, leaving millions of people without electricity for almost all of May and June.

Even more critical are Russian strikes on Ukraine’s hydroelectric power plants. These attacks don’t just cripple power generation—they threaten massive humanitarian disasters. Hydroelectric plants are vital infrastructure, and targeting them is prohibited under the Geneva Conventions. The destruction of such facilities can cause catastrophic flooding. Ukraine has already experienced this: when Russian forces destroyed the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, dozens of towns and villages were submerged, causing damage worth billions of dollars.

Russia’s ballistic missile strikes have even hit educational institutions. On March 25, 2024, an attack on Kyiv partially destroyed the Mykhailo Boichuk State Academy of Decorative and Applied Arts and Design—an ordinary university campus.

Residential buildings are also under constant threat. Reports of Russian strikes on Ukrainian homes appear regularly from Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava, Lviv, and other cities. Civilian casualties are staggering.

Russia uses ballistic missiles as a tool of terror while falsely claiming to target military objectives. A striking example came in the summer of 2024, when during a mass missile attack, Russia deliberately struck Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, Ohmatdyt, injuring dozens of children.

Ukraine needs a steady supply of Patriot missiles to prevent such tragedies and to maintain even partial air defense coverage over its cities and critical infrastructure.