Ukraine's Dire War Production Requirements

Funeral of Ukrainian F-15 pilot in Kyiv, July 3, 2025    AP Photo

 

"[Patriot systems are] critically necessary [for Ukraine, but U.S.-made HIMARS precision-guided missiles, also paused, are in less urgent need as other countries produce similar assets]."

"Other countries that have these [Patriot] systems can only transfer them with U.S. approval. The real question now is how far the United States is willing to to go in its reluctance to support Ukraine."

"There are enough missiles out there."

"This is war -- and in war, steady deliveries are always crucial."

Senior (name withheld) Ukrainian official 

 

"We can’t let Putin prevail now. President Trump knows that too and it’s why he’s been advocating for peace."

"Now is the time to show Putin we mean business. And that starts with ensuring Ukraine has the weapons Congress authorized to pressure Putin to the negotiating table."

Rep. Michael McCaul, R- Texas

 

"We can’t give weapons to everybody all around the world."

"Part of our job is to give the president a framework that he can use to evaluate how many munitions we have where we’re sending them."

"And that review process is happening right now and is ongoing."

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell  

Getty Images 

 

Russia's larger military is in the process of a concerted movement on parts of the 1,000-kilometre front line in its conflict with Ukraine. It is also intensifying long-range drone and missile attacks, hammering Ukrainian cities. And it is at this critical time that Ukraine has been apprised by indirect means that the weapons it has been waiting for from the U.S., which during the three-1/2 year war have been supplied fulsomely, are now in pause mode. Ukraine's largest military backer since February 24, 2022 now sees the Trump administration disengaging even as there is no foreseeable end to the conflict, despite fruitless peace talks.

 

President Trump held a "frank and constructive" talk with his Russian counterpart Thursday morning, which resolved nothing. President Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, explained that Mr. Trump had emphasized his urging for a swift  end to the fighting. Vladimir Putin's response was to voice Moscow's preparedness in pursuing talks with Kyiv, while emphasizing that Moscow seeks to achieve its goals to remove the "root causes" of the conflict. "Russia will not back down from these goals", repeated Ushakov.

 

Concerns are at their height in Kyiv relating to the military support allies are able and willing to supply and how expeditiously, as Ukraine races to build on its own domestic defence industry. Patriot air defence missiles are the  high-tech U.S. weapons seen to be irreplaceable, required to protect against Russia's ballistic missile attacks, costing a cool $4 million each. It is that vital system included in the delivery pause, leaving many of Ukraine's cities including its capital, increasingly vulnerable.

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has had to cope with, among other challenges, fraught relations with the American president, leading him to turn increasingly to his European partners for greater assistance for his country's plans in arms manufacturing. Lacking the production levels, military stockpiles or the technology to pick up the slack left by the U.S. pause, European supporters can do just so much, while Zelenskyy recruits their help for ambitious joint investment projects. Even while the situation feeds into NATO's new U.S.-imposed higher member-state commitments to spending on defense.

 

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy met up last month on the sidelines of NATO summit in the Netherlands.  (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)

 

The Ukrainian parliament is preparing to vote this month on draft legislation to aid Ukrainian defence manufacturers scale up and modernize military weaponry production. Included is new facilities to be built at home and abroad, announced by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov. A month earlier President Zelenskyy announced that major investments will go to production of drones and artillery shells. "The volume of support this year is the largest since the start of the full-scale war", he commented of foreign countries' commitments.

 

Also included in the pause aside from Patriot missiles, are the AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile and shorter range Stinger missiles -- while Ukrainian cities will in all likelihood see more Russian missiles pierce their air defences.  There does not appear to be a shortage of ammunition for Ukrainian troops at present, despite that during the war there were times of such shortages, unlike the situation with Russian troops, amply supplied with ammunition. 

 

The problem facing the Ukrainian military is its lack of soldiers. Its desperate manpower shortage has forced the army to turn to drones in compensation. As such, analysts claim the front is not in danger of a collapse.