Missiles for NASAMS and Patriot were late due to Europe's untimely payment under PURL program - Zelenskyy

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy frankly spoke about critical gaps in the defense of the sky, which led to the destruction of the capital's thermal power plants. He stated this in a conversation with journalists.

As it turned out, the modern NASAMS and Patriot air defense systems were without ammunition due to a bureaucratic delay: European partners did not transfer funds under the PURL program on time, under which American weapons are purchased.

"The US does not give us missiles for free. This is paid for by Europe. The tranche was not paid - the missiles did not arrive," the head of state stated, explaining the reasons for his sharp criticism of the allies.

The situation turned out to be extremely tense: while intelligence and the military recorded the launches of russian missiles, Ukrainian defenders literally had nothing to shoot them down.

"I know that ballistic missiles are flying, and my partners know that I have an empty division. There were empty NASAMS, there was an empty Patriot," Zelenskyy shared.

It was this lack of ammunition that allowed the enemy to strike at strategic energy facilities - CHPP-4, CHPP-5 and CHPP-6, since air defenses could not physically repel an attack against ballistic targets.

The President emphasized that the emotionality of his appeals to partners was due to the cost of every minute of delay. He noted that although contributions to the PURL program have already reached almost USD 2.8 billion, the effectiveness of this assistance is measured not by numbers on paper, but by the timeliness of deliveries to positions. Zelenskyy called on allies to be "on the same page" with Ukraine, because without timely payment of bills, even the most modern systems in the world remain only valuable scrap metal against the backdrop of russian attacks.