Zelenskyy told the BBC on 26 March that 800 US-made interceptors were consumed in three days of the Iran war, compared to 700 Ukraine received over its entire winter1. The United States produces only 60 to 65 Patriot missiles per month.
Replacing the 800 rounds burned in Iran takes 12 to 13 months at current production rates. Zelenskyy's earlier observation that more Patriot interceptors were used in three days of the Iran war than Ukraine received in three years was a rhetorical comparison; the 26 March figures make it arithmetic. The THAAD expenditure of 100 to 150 rounds in the first week compounds the shortfall across a second interceptor class.
Zelenskyy confirmed that deliveries to Ukraine have not stopped. But the trajectory is clear: the $750 million PURL diversion notified the same day signals Washington is prioritising restocking over resupply. France's commitment of eight SAMP/T NG air defence systems becomes a more important stopgap with each week the American production bottleneck persists.
The production constraint is physical, not political. Propellant, seeker heads, and testing capacity all take 18 months to surge. No amount of congressional goodwill changes the number of missiles that leave the factory floor each month.
