Why Ukraine Failed to Stop Any Ballistic Missile on July 5–6 and What Zelensky Demanded at the NATO Summit

This article explains exactly why Ukraine's ballistic missile defenses failed and lists the five urgent requests President Zelensky brought to the NATO summit in Ankara immediately afterward.

Why Ukraine failed to intercept any ballistic missiles

Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat confirmed that the force reported a "significant deficiency" in interceptor missiles, meaning that once the limited stock of Patriot interceptors was exhausted, Ukraine had nothing left to fire at incoming ballistic missiles . Ukraine's air defenses shot down 31 Kh-101 cruise missiles, six Kalibr cruise missiles, and hundreds of drones during the attack, but all 23 ballistic missiles reached their targets .

Three key factors explain the failure:

• Exhausted Patriot interceptor stockpiles: Ukraine had burned through its supply of the only systems — U.S.-made PAC-3 interceptors used by Patriot batteries — capable of stopping Iskander and Zircon ballistic missiles . A Ukrainian air defense operator, callsign "Flash," told the Kyiv Independent: "We simply don't have the missiles. We have nothing to use against ballistic missiles" .

• Scaling failures by allies: Zelensky and other officials noted that Western production of anti-ballistic missile interceptors has not been scaled up to the level actually needed to protect civilians . Zelensky called it "absurd" that production had not been increased to save lives .

• Russia's increasing reliance on ballistic missiles: Ballistic missiles fly faster and on higher trajectories than cruise missiles, making them much harder to intercept without dedicated, well-supplied systems . Russia used 23 ballistic missiles in this attack, with Ukrainian defenses unable to engage any of them .

The attack hit residential buildings directly, killing at least 15 people in Kyiv and eight more in the surrounding region . It was the second major ballistic-missile assault on the capital in less than a week — a similar attack on July 2 had killed 31 people .

Zelensky's urgent requests at the NATO summit in Ankara

President Zelensky traveled to the NATO summit in Ankara (July 7–8, 2026) immediately after the attack, carrying several urgent demands. Here are the five key requests he presented:

1. Immediate delivery of more Patriot air defense systems and interceptors

Zelensky directly appealed to the U.S. and European allies to provide additional Patriot batteries and the PAC-3 interceptors needed to stop ballistic missiles. He stated that an "insufficient supply" of U.S.-made interceptors was leaving Kyiv defenseless against ballistic strikes . "It is critically important that the world — first and foremost the United States and our European partners — come out of the NATO Summit in Ankara with strong decisions in support of our air defense," he said .

2. A missile-exchange agreement with Germany

Ukraine proposed a deal whereby Germany would provide its current Patriot missile stock immediately, in exchange for future interceptor production from Ukraine's own defense industry. This arrangement required a decision from Germany either prior to or during the summit .

3. Establishment of an "anti-ballistic coalition"

Zelensky urged NATO to create a formal coalition of countries dedicated to supplying and producing anti-ballistic missile systems at scale. He argued that Europe needs "affordable, mass-produced anti-ballistic systems today" . The coalition had been announced in principle at the June 18 Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting, but Zelensky pushed for formalization and "real results" by winter 2026–27 .

4. Scaled-up allied production of interceptor missiles

At the summit, Zelensky pressed allies to ramp up industrial production of interceptor missiles, calling it "absurd" that production had not been scaled up to protect civilian lives in the modern era . He also requested a Patriot production license from the United States, calling it "our top priority" .

5. Air defense as the summit's central outcome

Ahead of and during the summit, Zelensky insisted that concrete air defense commitments must be one of the key outcomes of the Ankara gathering. "The NATO summit and other meetings are coming up in the next few days, and this — air defense — must be one of the key outcomes. That is, of course, if NATO still means anything to its allies," he said .

Zelensky also used the summit to directly lobby U.S. President Donald Trump and European leaders not to delay promised deliveries, writing a letter to Trump and Congress urging immediate help with air defense systems . In the letter, seen by Reuters, Zelensky wrote: "I ask for your help in protecting Ukraine's skies from Russian missiles. We have already proposed that Ukraine is ready to purchase the number of Patriot systems and interceptor missiles we need" .