# Zelensky's desperate plea for Patriots deserves an immediate answer > Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed participants of the 33rd Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on July 4, 2026, gathered in - Author: Maxime Marquette - Publisher: MadMax (https://mad-max.co) - Section: Editorial - Published: 2026-07-06 - Canonical URL: https://mad-max.co/en/article/l-appel-desespere-de-zelensky-pour-des-patriot-merite-une-reponse-immediate ## Introduction: a cry of alarm sent from The Hague ### A speech no Western capital should shrug off Ukrainian President **Volodymyr Zelensky** addressed participants of the **33rd Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly** on **July 4, 2026**, gathered in **The Hague**, to deliver a blunt warning: **Russia** treats ballistic missiles as its ultimate argument for continuing this war, and only reinforced air defense can break the **Kremlin's** murderous calculation. "**Ukraine** has a critical need for **Patriot** interceptors. And we all know our partners have them. What's needed now is the political will to transfer them, first and foremost the **United States**," **Zelensky** declared, a direct formulation that captures the urgency of a file that determines the daily survival of millions of Ukrainian civilians. ### Why this columnist is choosing the editorial format This columnist has chosen the editorial format because this file does not call for neutrality: when a nation asks for the concrete means to defend itself against **Russian** ballistic strikes that kill civilians inside their own homes, the only defensible editorial position is clear, affirmed solidarity with **Ukraine**. This piece therefore takes a stance: the West must answer this appeal with the same urgency **Zelensky** himself expressed, without losing itself in bureaucratic considerations that, with every delay, cost real Ukrainian lives. *A president forced to beg for missiles to protect his civilians four years into an illegal invasion — that is what the West should find intolerable, not merely regrettable.* ## What the numbers reveal about the scale of Ukraine's shortfall ### One hundred forty missiles needed to intercept a single wave **Zelensky** specified, during a visit to the site of a **Russian** strike in the **Darnytskyi district** of **Kyiv** on **July 2, 2026**, that **Ukraine** would need at least **140 Patriot missiles** to intercept a single assault involving roughly **70 Russian ballistic missiles**, a ratio that shows how thoroughly each massive **Russian** barrage drains already insufficient defense stocks. **Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov** issued, on **July 2, 2026**, an urgent appeal to nearly **forty partner countries** to immediately transfer **Patriot** missiles from their own stockpiles, in exchange for future deliveries already under contract for **Ukraine** — a request that reflects a level of urgency rarely reached since the invasion began. ### Contracts signed, but deliveries dangerously delayed **Ukraine** has already signed contracts for hundreds of **PAC-2 Patriot** missiles with **German** support, and has moved toward buying roughly a hundred additional missiles through a **one-billion-euro loan** guaranteed by the **European Union**, yet these deliveries are not expected for years — a deadly mismatch between financial commitment and the real protection of Ukrainian civilians. This columnist considers that this gap between signed contracts and actual deliveries is precisely the kind of bureaucratic slowness that this war's humanitarian urgency should no longer tolerate from **Ukraine's** Western partners. *Signing contracts has never protected a single Ukrainian apartment building. Only fast, concrete deliveries save lives, and that is the exact standard by which the West must be judged.* ## What Trump must do, despite his past reluctance ### An administration that has hesitated, yet remains the key to this file This columnist acknowledges that American President **Donald Trump** has, in the past, voiced notable skepticism toward **Zelensky's** repeated requests, notably in April 2026 when he questioned **Ukraine's** ability to justify additional costly systems, a posture this columnist considers regrettable given the documented humanitarian urgency on the ground. This columnist notes, however, with measured optimism, that **Trump** responded positively at the **G7 summit** in June 2026 to **Ukraine's** request for licenses to produce **Patriot** systems on Ukrainian soil, a positive shift that, if realized quickly, could constitute a far more durable structural solution than a mere accumulation of one-off donations. ### A necessary evil whose pressure must now serve Ukraine This columnist maintains a nuanced position toward **Trump**: a necessary evil for the West on questions of collective defense, provided this administration turns its sometimes ambiguous positions into concrete, rapid action to protect Ukrainian civilians from intensifying **Russian** ballistic strikes. The historic responsibility of this American administration will be decided precisely on this **Patriot** file: accelerating deliveries and swiftly granting the promised production licenses, or letting **Kyiv** continue to suffer avoidable civilian losses for lack of adequate air defense. *I will never forgive any Western administration, including the American one, for delaying by political calculation a decision that could save Ukrainian civilian lives as early as tomorrow morning.* ## What Europe can and must do right now ### European production still too slow to materialize Ukraine's ambassador to **Germany** confirmed that **Kyiv** and **Berlin** are jointly developing an air defense system meant to protect the entire European continent, a project capable of intercepting **Russian** ballistic missiles, but whose operational realization remains largely a matter for the future despite the documented urgency on Ukrainian ground. This columnist believes that this joint **German-Ukrainian** initiative, however promising on paper, must be accelerated with considerably strengthened financial and industrial resources, rather than remaining a long-term project while Ukrainian civilians die every week under current **Russian** ballistic strikes. ### A collective responsibility Europe can no longer fully delegate to Washington This columnist considers that **Europe**, as this war's direct neighbor, bears a particular responsibility to accelerate its own production capacity for air defense systems, rather than depending almost exclusively on **American** goodwill for every **Patriot** missile delivery to **Ukraine**. This heightened **European** responsibility in no way absolves the **United States** of its own obligations toward **Kyiv**, but it forms an indispensable complement at a moment when **American** stockpiles themselves, weakened by the recent **Iranian** conflict, struggle to meet a full slate of competing international demands. *Europe can no longer settle for counting on Washington for every Patriot missile bound for Ukraine. Our collective security demands an autonomous European production capacity, built starting now, not a decade from now.* ## What Russia's systematic pounding of Kyiv reveals ### A deliberate strategy of terror against civilians The **Russian** strikes that hit the **Darnytskyi district** of **Kyiv** in early July 2026, killing several civilians in residential buildings, illustrate a deliberate **Russian** strategy that targets the civilian population itself far more than any military objective, a terror tactic **Zelensky** has explicitly denounced as the **Kremlin's** attempt to break the Ukrainian people's will to resist. This columnist believes that this terror strategy, documented strike after strike since the invasion began, should be enough on its own to convince any hesitant Western partner of the absolute urgency of supplying additional air defense systems to **Kyiv**. ### A pace of attacks that does not slow despite negotiations Far from slowing amid ongoing diplomatic efforts, **Russia** launched a fresh barrage of missiles and drones against **Kyiv** on the night of **July 6, 2026**, just hours after **Zelensky** warned of an imminent large-scale attack on the Ukrainian capital. This columnist notes that this continuity of **Russian** strikes, despite repeated international calls for restraint, demonstrates that only concrete military deterrence, not diplomatic negotiation alone, can truly protect Ukrainian civilians in the short term. *As long as Russia keeps bombing civilians on the very night Ukraine issues a call for help, no diplomatic argument should delay the delivery of additional air defense systems.* ## What this file reveals about Western strategic priorities ### A global race for limited missile stockpiles The recent conflict involving **Iran** depleted nearly a third of global **Patriot** interceptor stockpiles, according to estimates cited by several specialized outlets, creating direct competition between **Gulf** defense needs and **Ukraine's** needs for a limited number of missiles produced each year by American manufacturers **Lockheed Martin** and **Raytheon**. This columnist believes this international competition for limited military resources forces the West to make clear strategic choices, and that defending **Ukraine** against an illegal invasion should rank at least equal to, if not above, other theaters where the direct threat to allied democracies remains less immediate. ### Production that must accelerate regardless of geopolitical trade-offs This columnist calls on Western defense industries to significantly accelerate their **Patriot** missile production capacity, rather than letting geopolitical trade-offs between competing theaters determine, by default, which civilian populations receive adequate air defense protection and which are left without it. This industrial acceleration, however costly and complex to implement quickly, represents a strategic investment whose value far exceeds its immediate financial cost, given the Ukrainian civilian lives it would concretely help protect. *It should not be Ukraine that pays, in lost civilian lives, for a global race over limited missile stockpiles. It is Western industry's job to accelerate production so this impossible choice never has to be made again.* ## What international solidarity must concretely demonstrate ### A credibility test for every Western democracy The concrete response given to **Zelensky's** appeal from **The Hague** constitutes a credibility test for every Western democracy belonging to the **OSCE**: those with available **Patriot** missiles who choose not to transfer them quickly will bear a direct share of moral responsibility for the Ukrainian civilian losses to come. This columnist believes that this moral responsibility, however uncomfortable it may be to state publicly, must be named without hedging: Western solidarity with **Ukraine** can no longer be limited to symbolic statements of support devoid of rapid material consequences on the ground. ### A chance to prove Western values carry a price worth paying This columnist closes this section by recalling that defending Ukrainian sovereignty against **Russian** aggression is, beyond the purely military stakes, a test of the democratic values the West claims to defend: freedom, national sovereignty and international law only mean something if Western democracies accept paying the concrete price when those values are directly threatened. That price, in this case, is measured in **Patriot** missiles delivered quickly, a bill this columnist considers far smaller than the moral cost of abandoning **Ukraine**, even partially, to **Vladimir Putin**. *The Western values we celebrate in our speeches must also translate into missiles delivered on time. Otherwise they are just words, and words protect no Ukrainian building from Russian ballistic strikes.* ## What history will remember of this pivotal moment ### A precedent reaching far beyond Ukraine alone How the West responds to **Zelensky's** appeal will set a precedent whose consequences will extend far beyond the Ukrainian case alone: it will send a clear signal to every authoritarian regime, from **Beijing** to **Tehran** to **Pyongyang**, about whether Western democracies are genuinely willing to defend their partners against direct military aggression. This columnist believes that this precedent, whether positive or negative depending on the Western response in the coming weeks, will directly influence **China's** strategic calculations toward **Taiwan** and **North Korea's** calculations toward its own regional neighbors. ### A responsibility that extends well beyond the military file This columnist closes this reflection by recalling that the strategic credibility of the entire Atlantic alliance and its democratic partners rests, concretely, on precisely this kind of file: whether or not to deliver the **Patriot** interceptors requested by a democratic ally besieged by an authoritarian power hostile to the Western international order. The stakes therefore extend far beyond the humanitarian question alone, central as it is: this is about the future credibility of every Western promise of protection to its democratic partners, wherever they may be in the world. *What the West decides to do for Ukraine today, China and North Korea are watching closely to calculate what they can get away with tomorrow. This is not just a Ukrainian question — it is a question of global strategic credibility.* *An ally counting its munitions down to the last unit while another bombs its hospitals no longer has the luxury of diplomatic slowness. Western solidarity is measured in deliveries, not press releases.* ## Conclusion: the human urgency behind every military statistic ### What this columnist takes from Zelensky's appeal The appeal **Volodymyr Zelensky** issued from **The Hague** on **July 4, 2026** is not just one more diplomatic request in a long list of Ukrainian asks: it is a cry of alarm grounded in precise, verifiable figures — **140 missiles** needed to counter a single wave of attack — that reflects an immediate humanitarian urgency for millions of Ukrainian civilians living under the constant threat of **Russian** ballistic strikes. This columnist refuses to treat this file as a mere technical question of military logistics: behind every missing **Patriot** missile stand Ukrainian apartment buildings, schools and hospitals left without adequate protection against **Vladimir Putin's Russia**. ### A call to action that admits no further delay This columnist closes this editorial with a direct call to Western leaders, American and European alike: this is no longer the time for diplomatic hedging or short-term political calculation, but for immediate action to transfer available **Patriot** interceptors from partner stockpiles and to accelerate without delay the production licenses promised to **Kyiv**. History will judge harshly those Western democracies that, possessing the material means to protect Ukrainian civilian lives, chose bureaucratic slowness over concrete solidarity in the face of **Russian** aggression that continues, day after day, to strike defenseless civilian populations. **By Maxime Marquette, columnist** ## Columnist's transparency note ### Editorial stance I am not a journalist but a **columnist and analyst**. My expertise lies in observing and analysing the geopolitical, economic and strategic dynamics that shape our world. My work is to take political strategies apart, to understand global economic movements, to put the decisions of international actors in context and to offer analytical perspectives on the changes that are redefining our societies. I do not claim the cold objectivity of traditional journalism, which stops at reporting facts. **I claim analytical clarity**, rigorous interpretation and a deep understanding of the complex issues that concern us all. My role is to give meaning to the facts, to place them in their historical and strategic context, and to offer a critical reading of events. ### Method and sources This text keeps the basic distinction between **verified facts and interpretive analysis**. The rule never changes: a factual claim is published only when a verifiable source supports it, and the sources this article actually used are listed under **Sources**, never here. **Primary source families** used by the publication, when the story has them: official statements from governments and international institutions, public statements by political leaders, reports from intergovernmental organisations, dispatches from recognised international news agencies. **Secondary source families**: specialised publications, internationally recognised news media, analyses from established research institutions, reports from industry organisations. When an article cites statistical, economic or geopolitical data, it comes from the institutions that produce it (intergovernmental organisations, central banks, national statistics offices), and the exact institution is named under **Sources**. ### Nature of the analysis The analyses, interpretations and perspectives in the analytical sections of this article are a **critical, contextual synthesis** based on the information available, the trends observed and the expert comments cited in the sources consulted. My role is to interpret these facts, to set them in the context of today's geopolitical and economic dynamics, and to give them a coherent meaning within the larger story of the changes shaping our time. These analyses reflect expertise built through continuous observation of international affairs and an understanding of the strategic mechanisms that drive global actors. This article describes a documented state of affairs on its publication date, not a prediction: later developments may shift its outlook. No update is promised in advance; when an article is corrected or completed, the change is dated in the text. ## Sources ### Primary sources - RBC-Ukraine — Zelenskyy urges allies to send Patriot missiles as Russia steps up ballistic attacks, July 4, 2026 - The Kyiv Independent — Ukraine urgently appeals to nearly 40 allies for Patriot interceptors, July 2, 2026 - Ukrainska Pravda — Zelenskyy at Russian strike site in Kyiv, we could have saved more, July 2, 2026 ### Secondary sources - Mezha — Zelensky urged allies to deliver Patriot interceptors and tighten sanctions, July 4, 2026 - Euronews — Kyiv seeks license to produce Patriot systems for Ukraine and Europe, June 16, 2026 - RBC-Ukraine — Zelenskyy waiting for Trump's decision on Patriot manufacturing in Ukraine, July 2, 2026 --- Source: Maxime Marquette, MadMax. When citing, name the author and link https://mad-max.co/en/article/l-appel-desespere-de-zelensky-pour-des-patriot-merite-une-reponse-immediate