Ukraine gets more Patriot air defence systems to counter deadly Russian attacks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pleaded with western partners to provide more Patriot systems (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Ukraine has received more American-made Patriot air defence systems to help it counter Russia’s daily barrages, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

It came as Russian drones killed a man and injured five of his family members, including two children, in the latest night-time attack.

Russia’s relentless pounding of urban areas behind the front line following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly four years ago has killed thousands of civilians.

It has also targeted the energy supply to deny civilians heat and running water in winter, as well as disrupt industrial production of Ukraine’s newly developed drones and missiles.

Today, we can already say there is a good result for our air defense – Ukraine now has more Patriots. I thank Chancellor Merz, I thank Germany, and everyone who helps – our agreements have been fulfilled. More Patriots are now in Ukraine and being put into operation.

Of course,… pic.twitter.com/WW8qpOw84A

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 2, 2025

The sophisticated Patriot systems are the most effective weapon against Russian missiles.

Mr Zelensky has pleaded with western partners to provide more of them, but production limitations and the need to maintain stockpiles have slowed their delivery.

“More Patriots are now in Ukraine and being put into operation,” Mr Zelensky said on social media late Sunday. “Of course, more systems are needed to protect key infrastructure sites and our cities across the entire territory of our state.”

He thanked Germany and its Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, for the Patriots.

Germany said three months ago it would deliver two more Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine. It agreed to the move after securing assurances that the US will prioritise the delivery of new Patriots to Germany to backfill its stocks. Patriot systems are made only in the US.

Germany has given to Ukraine more Patriot systems from its own armed forces than any other country, the German Defence Ministry said. Germany has also supplied air defence systems with different ranges, such as IRIS-T and Skynex, a statement said.

Nato is co-ordinating regular deliveries of large weapons packages to Ukraine. European allies and Canada are buying much of the equipment from the United States. The Trump administration is not giving any arms to Ukraine, unlike the previous Biden administration.

Russia launched 12 missiles of various types and 138 strike and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. On some nights it has fired many hundreds of drones and missiles at Ukraine.

In Ukraine’s north-eastern region of Sumy, Russian drones hit a house where they killed a man and injured five members of his family, authorities said. Two women were also injured in a separate attack in Sumy.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 01 November 2025.

Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/RrBz0SZFyc#StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/ghMZRcS2u4

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) November 1, 2025

“The Russians cynically targeted people — deliberately, at night, while they were sleeping,” regional head Oleh Hryhorov wrote on Telegram in response to the attacks.

Russian missiles started a fire at a business in the central region of Dnipro, injuring one man, regional head Vladyslav Haivanenko said.

Russian drones have also struck energy infrastructure in the southern region of Mykolaiv.

At the same time, Ukraine has been trying to constrain Russia’s oil industry, a mainstay of its economy.

Ukrainian forces struck Russia’s Saratov oil refinery overnight and started a fire, according to Ukraine’s general staff. It was Ukraine’s fourth attack on the Saratov installation in almost seven weeks.

The refinery, located some 300 miles from the Ukrainian border, can process several million metric tons of oil a year.

Mr Zelensky claimed last week that long-range strikes on Russian refineries have reduced Moscow’s oil refining capacity by 20%.