🔻U.S. stockpiles declining in the Iran war; Zelensky calls for more interceptor missiles

Volodymyr Zelensky, president of Ukraine, after a night when his country’s air defenses failed to shoot down any of the incoming Russian ballistic missiles, once again urged Kyiv’s allies to provide Ukraine with more interceptor missiles, and immediately.

According to Sacha Shelikhter, BBC’s international affairs correspondent, under normal circumstances Ukraine had been receiving, on an ongoing basis, quantities of U.S. air-defense interceptor missiles; but Washington’s stockpiles have now been sharply depleted due to the Iran war, making cities such as Kyiv more vulnerable to Russian attacks.

On Saturday, during his trip to Belgrade, Mr. Zelensky, while thanking countries such as Germany and Poland, said that these countries have stockpiles of air-defense missiles that they could make available to Ukraine in part.

He also mentioned Japan and South Korea, but said that those countries’ domestic laws prevent them from easily providing such weapon systems to Ukraine.