Following the mass Russian strike on Kyiv on 24 May, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent letters to President Donald Trump and members of Congress calling for accelerated decisions on strengthening Ukraine's air defense, Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States Olha Stefanishyna announced. More than 600 letters were sent in total, according to Stefanishyna, and have already drawn a positive response among American legislators.
The letters were dispatched against the backdrop of what Ukrainian officials describe as a critical shortage of interceptor missiles. "When it comes to air defense against missiles, we rely on our friends," Zelenskyy wrote. "When it comes to protection from ballistic missiles, we rely almost exclusively on the United States." For a country under near-nightly bombardment, the line names a dependency Kyiv cannot engineer its way out of in the time the war allows.
Zelenskyy's communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn confirmed the letter's authenticity to journalists. The Kyiv Independent, which first reported on the correspondence on May 27, said Stefanishyna distributed the letter to the White House, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and other members of Congress.
The May 24 attack
The letter's account of the attack runs ahead of the figures Ukraine's own military released. Zelenskyy wrote that Russia launched two Oreshnik ballistic missiles on 24 May — one striking Kyiv Oblast, the other reportedly falling on temporarily occupied territory in Donetsk Oblast. The letter also lists 54 cruise missiles, 30 ballistic missiles, three Zircon hypersonic missiles, two Kinzhal missiles, and roughly 600 strike drones.
Ukraine's Air Force, the operational source of record, reported the overall salvo as 90 missiles and 600 drones, and its spokesman Yurii Ihnat described a single Oreshnik striking the Bila Tserkva district in Kyiv Oblast — not two. Air defenses shot down or jammed 549 drones and 55 missiles, with another 19 missiles failing to reach their targets, the Air Force said. It was one of the largest combined attacks of the war.
Patriot and Oreshnik
Ukraine's central request to Washington is additional Patriot systems and anti-ballistic interceptors. Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine is prepared to purchase the necessary quantity of systems and interceptor missiles. Ukrainian officials cited by the Kyiv Independent expressed concern that limited stocks of Patriot interceptors and other Western-supplied systems may not withstand continued Russian bombardment. One source put it more bluntly to the outlet: when it comes to anti-ballistic defense, "it's really tough."
The Oreshnik, which Russia claims can carry a nuclear warhead, was first used against Ukraine in a strike on Dnipro in November 2024 and again on Lviv Oblast on 9 January. The May 24 strike marked its third combat use in the war.
Stefanishyna said she would hold urgent meetings with members of the Ukraine Caucus in the US Congress in the near future.
