Ukraine Has Patriots But No Missiles Amid Global Interceptor Crisis

Ukraine has big air defense machines called Patriot systems that are supposed to shoot down enemy missiles and planes.

But Ukraine is running out of the special missiles, called interceptors, that these machines need to work.

A reporter from CNN visited one of these Patriot systems in Ukraine.

The machine had 16 tubes for launching missiles, and they looked like they had been used a lot.

The engineer in charge, whose full name was kept secret to keep him safe, said the launcher had not fired in six weeks.

Ukraine does not want to tell people exactly how many interceptors it has left.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine can only use about 1% of the missiles stored in the United States.

The war uses a huge number of interceptors every day, about 225.

This shortage is a global problem because many countries need the same kind of missiles.

Without enough interceptors, even the best air defense systems cannot protect people from attacks.