NATO Summit: Zelensky Pleads for US Missile Defense

Russia's latest strikes on Kyiv have been among the Ukraine war's deadliest, exacerbated by what Volodymyr Zelensky has lamented as a shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles, as Ukraine’s leader looks to drum up support for his country's defenses at the NATO summit.

After Russia's bombardment Sunday which killed 21 people only days after strikes killed another 22, Zelensky urged allies to increase air defense commitments ahead of the first day of the annual meeting in Ankara where he would meet NATO chief Mark Rutte.

But Zelensky's plea for "strong decisions" by NATO to counter Russia stepping up its combined missile and drone attacks follow reports the U.S. used up around a half of its Patriot missile interceptors and THAAD interceptors during the war on Iran.

Depleted American stockpiles will raise concerns among NATO members who may have to look elsewhere to defend themselves.

"All the interceptors used up in the Middle East really strained global PAC-2 and PAC-3 (Patriot Advanced Capability) stocks, created real bottlenecks in the supply chain, and Russia knows it," said Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of Hope for Ukraine, which helps communities on the frontline of the war.

Air Defence Systems Fracturing

He told Newsweek that Ukraine’s defensive shield is fracturing under a severe shortage of air defense interceptors akin to what it had in 2022 when Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion.

"That's why we're seeing these mixed attacks now-cheap drones first to make us burn through ammo then ballistic missiles right after," he said, forcing Ukraine's command to choose what to protect when reserves are already stretched thin.

"All those anti-ballistic missiles used in the Middle East came from the same pools we rely on for resupply," he said.

"Allies got more protective of what they had left once stocks started shrinking, so transfers to us slowed down, which leaves our skies more exposed to ballistic and hypersonic stuff."

Iran War Depletes US Stockpiles

On March 5, Zelensky expressed frustration at U.S. priorities in which he noted that over just three days of fighting the Iran War, more than 800 Patriot missiles had been used-more than Ukraine has received since 2022.

This figure was not independently confirmed but a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) report released April 21 illustrated the cost of the Iran War on critical munitions stockpiles. It said that the U.S. had used 45 percent of its critical Patriot missile interceptors, and over 53 percent of its THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defenses) interceptors during the Iran War.

The think tank said that in 39 days of the war's air and missile campaign before an April 8 ceasefire, U.S. forces had expended more than half of its pre-war inventory in four out of seven munitions.

Before the Iran War, stockpiles were deemed insufficient for a peer competitor fight but given that replenishing munitions to pre-war levels could take between one and four years the shortfall "is now even more acute," the CSIS said.

It said many munitions had acceptable inventories so if critical munitions run low or run out, the U.S. can "continue the fight."

"Diminished inventories will also affect the U.S. supply of Patriot, THAADs, and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSMs) to Ukraine and other allies and partners that use them," the report concluded.

The U.S. has this year delayed or cancelled deliveries of key arms shipments to Europe, including Tomahawk cruise missiles, HIMARS mobile rocket artillery, and PAC-3 missiles.

Turkey's Clout in NATO on Show

Turkey has NATO's second largest military after the U.S., and it plays a key security role for eastern Europe and further south with the biggest threat coming from Russia.

Turkey's strategic position on the Black Sea allowed it to stop Moscow from reinforcing the Russian Black Sea fleet through the Montreux Convention in which Ankara closed the Bosphorus and Dardanelles to the warships.

President Donald Trump has stepped back from U.S. commitments to Kyiv’s fight. He has also lambasted NATO members for not spending enough on defense, not helping in his war on Iran, and made repeated threats to pull the U.S. out of the alliance.

But Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is one of the few leaders in Trump's good books and his invitation to the U.S. president was enough to get him to attend.

As the U.S. is likely to address European defense spending amid concerns over the Trump administration's commitment to the alliance, Erdoğan will be looking to display his geopolitical clout.

"Turkey is one of the key actors that will stabilize NATO," said Yörük Işık, a geopolitical analyst based in Istanbul, told Newsweek. "Turkey’s role comes into the plugging the huge gap will be left by the departure of United States."

"There is no other actor on the continent that can replace Turkey’s role and manpower and the ability to manufacture stuff at speed and at volume," added Işık who runs the consultancy the Bosphorus Observer.

However. Sinan Ciddi, Turkey program director at the Foundation of Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington, D.C. think tank, told U.S. lawmakers Erdoğan's government is an escalating threat to NATO’s southeastern flank and not the stabilizing force that he attempts to portray.

"The United States and its allies should approach Ankara with clarity rather than wishful thinking," he said in testimony last month to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan body in the U.S. House of Representatives.

NATO chief Mark Rutte has teased big military deals to be announced at the summit with continued pledges for support for Ukraine will be keenly looked out for.

Among them are hints by Trump that the U.S. might allow the sale of not only jet engines, but also F-35 fighters to Turkey, which face Congressional opposition.

But Ciddi warned American lawmakers against approving advanced U.S. defense transfers to Turkey, especially F-35 fighter jets and F110 high-performance engines, while Ankara retains the Russian S-400 system and deepens ties with Russia and China.

The first Trump administration blocked F-35 purchases after Ankara had acquired the Russian S-400 air defense system seen as incompatible with the alliance.

Ciddi said NATO members are very complimentary towards Turkey as a defense partner in public but in private most expressed concerns over whether its capability would be useful to counter the threat posed by Russia. "At the very least we’re not sure if Turkey would ever deploy that to European or NATO security."

But Işık from the Bosphorus Observer said that the Trump administration's upending of NATO means that the Ankara summit "is very important because this is the first time the Allies are reshuffling their responsibilities."

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This story was originally published July 7, 2026 at 7:04 AM.