If the US stops supplying Kyiv with Patriot missiles, the air defense systems already delivered will effectively become scrap metal, leaving Ukraine unable to intercept ballistic missiles, military analyst Yevhen Dykyi said on Vechir.LIVE.

While commenting on a statement by Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, who noted that 40% of the weaponry used by Ukraine’s Defense Forces is domestically produced, Dykyi acknowledged that Ukrainian production now covers a wide range of needed equipment, but some items remain irreplaceable.

“Ukraine doesn’t manufacture missiles for the Patriot system and won’t be able to for several years. So if American supplies stop, Patriots will be nothing more than piles of metal—we would have to forget about them. Sadly, that’s the reality. There’s no alternative, at least for intercepting ballistic missiles,” the expert believes. 

For aerodynamic targets, Ukraine “has the European SAMP/T system, which is comparable to Patriot, but it can’t handle ballistic missiles,” he said. 

“When it comes to ballistic defense, Patriots are, unfortunately, indispensable,” Dykyi explained.

He said that while ballistic missiles play little direct role in combat operations, Russia uses them primarily to terrorize civilians.

“Thankfully, the Russians don’t have a huge stockpile of ballistic missiles. Still, every strike is frightening. They launch a few dozen ballistic missiles each month,” he noted.

At the same time, Dykyi emphasized that Ukraine is increasingly self-reliant in other areas of arms production.

“Frontline fighting isn’t about ballistic missiles. It’s fought with FPV drones, traditional artillery with standard shells, Kalashnikovs, and so on. And Ukraine is fully capable of supplying all of that ourselves—all the ‘immortal classics’: small arms, armored vehicles, artillery,” he said. 

According to the expert, Ukraine is currently producing more artillery systems than the entire EU.

“Since the US isn’t manufacturing artillery systems—it wasn’t part of their plans—Ukraine is now producing more artillery systems than all NATO countries combined,” he added.