Zelensky to CNN: Putin ‘doesn’t know how to end this war’

Ukraine has only a tenth of the interceptor missiles it urgently needs from the United States to stop surging Russian ballistic missile attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh in an interview, adding his days are spent in “millions” of phone calls, in opaque deal-making with allies for more.

Russian ballistic attacks have risen fast in recent weeks, hitting the capital Kyiv particularly hard, as Moscow exploits Ukraine’s near-zero stocks of Patriot interceptor missiles. Zelensky said a tenth of the US current stockpile would be enough to stop all Russian ballistic missile attacks, but 5% would be enough to get Ukraine through the winter.

But, there is a global shortage of the missiles due to the US war with Iran, where the US and Gulf states used dozens to tackle Iranian missile and low-cost drone attacks. The shortage is costing Ukraine most acutely, where cities some nights appear defenseless to Moscow’s rocket assaults.

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