Exclusive: Inside Ukraine's 2-year effort to secure Patriot missile production

As U.S. President Donald Trump backs away from giving Ukraine licenses to produce Patriot air defense missiles, Ukrainian officials say Kyiv had a chance to solve the problem years ago — but Washington rejected the idea back then as well.

The Ukrainian side has been trying to secure the licenses for almost two years. Officials told the Kyiv Independent that if the previous U.S. administration had approved the proposal, Ukraine could already be producing the interceptors needed to defend its cities from Russia's escalating ballistic missile attacks.

Photo: Leigh Vogel/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images

— 🇮🇱 NEW: Bar Asraf, a 30-year old Israeli who survived the Nova Festival attack on October 7th, killed himself at the grave of his girlfriend

The girlfriend, Liron Barda, was killed on that day at the festival almost three years ago during operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

@Middle_East_Spectator

A few hours ago, an extremely unusual event occurred in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, where a Russian Su-34 aircraft flew within 7 km of the frontline to carry out simulated launch maneuvers of KAB glide-bombs.

The aircraft then looped back around and carried out a second simulated launch maneuver around 2 minutes after the first. No munitions were actually launched.

For reference, Su-34s typically launch glide-bombs from around 40-45 km behind the frontline to avoid being shot down by Patriot PAC-2/3 interceptors. It's possible that this aircraft was probing to see if there would be any air defence response by the Ukrainians.

—❗️🇮🇷/🇺🇦 Official military advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader, IRGC Major General Mohsen Rezaee:

‘We had prepared to strike three different locations in Ukraine, but after they publicly apologized for striking our vessel, we decided not to escalate.’

@Middle_East_Spectator

Daily dose of UKRO-COPE #114 😂😂😂

I want to make a rather bleak prediction, which I hope will not come true.

Right now, we are living in a moment of total war, with the destruction of their infrastructure by us, and our infrastructure by them. And this will only become more and more total, including chains of warehouses, gas stations, hypermarkets, and everything else, together with energy facilities, oil refineries, and everything else that is possible. There will be a constant exchange of strikes until, hypothetically, these warehouses and marketplaces move to the territories of other countries, and the logistics are completely changed.

It's idiocy and absurdity, but russia is leading this war towards a scorched earth scenario, both on its own territory and ours. However, in this scenario, the European part of Russia will face significant logistical problems.

Therefore, it would be desirable to stop the war and cease fire this autumn.

https://t.me/bahshiddemon/3615

Yesterday, Ukraine's "40 day operation" to force Russia to negotiate through immense economic destruction quietly ended.

The goals of this operation were not achieved, and today Ukraine is in a worse position than they were 40 days ago. While Russia suffered extensive damage to their so-called "Shadow Fleet", their Wildberries warehouses, and their oil infrastructure, they did not suffer any major economic struggles beyond what they have already faced.

The strikes on Crimea have slowed as countermeasures improved, along with the strikes on their oil tankers.

In turn, Russia launched their own wave of attacks on Ukraine's port infrastructure. And unlike Russia, Ukraine's port infrastructure is concentrated in a small part of their coastline along Odesa Oblast. These ports are responsible for 70% of their total exports and over 90% of their agricultural exports. These Russian retaliatory attacks are being carried out with many times more force than Ukraine's, and involve a wide variety of weapons, including drones, jet-drones, cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, and ballistic missiles.

The 40 day operation has had precisely zero effect on the frontline for Ukraine, with the economic effects slowly becoming less and less significant. This is why we aren't seeing anyone in the U.S., Europe, or Ukraine announce the end of the campaign, as it fades away quietly to soon be replaced by some other PR-oriented campaign to try sway the opinions of the masses. In the end, in a war of attrition, the frontline always takes priority. Strategic-level strikes are only one component of a holistic war.

It's also a good lesson why you should never put timelines on things. It's why we don't ever see Russia doing this.

— 🇺🇸/🇮🇷 NEW: The U.S. has used ‘virtually all’ of its long-range ground to ground missiles, such as ATACMs and PrSMs, according to Reuters

These missiles, which allowed the U.S. Army to carry out precision strikes against targets in southern Iran from a safe distance, will take years to fully replenish.

@Middle_East_Spectator

—❗️🇸🇦/🇾🇪/🇮🇳 BREAKING: An Indian-flagged tanker, carrying oil from Saudi Arabia, was blown up with a Yemeni suicide boat 13 nautical miles off Hodeidah in Bab Al-Mandab

@Middle_East_Spectator

Russian Geran-4 jet-drone strikes on six cargo ships in the western Black Sea and Mykolaiv Port.

Russian Geran-4 jet-drone strikes on two cargo ships in the western Black Sea and at Mykolaiv Port.

‼️UKRAINIAN POST‼️

Kyiv is experiencing widespread power outages. Some districts of the capital have been left in darkness, and electricity supply will only be restored late at night, according to DTEK.

https://t.me/kyiv_hey/38870?single

‼️UKRAINIAN POST‼️

Be prepared for ballistic missile strikes approximately every three to four days and massive attacks three times a month — US intelligence has warned that the frequency of shelling will remain at the level seen in July in August.

https://t.me/kyiv_hey/38867

Won't be fixing Kiev bridges no more