Kiev, 27 May 2026 (dpa/MIA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has written to US President Donald Trump to request assistance amid a worsening shortage of air defence systems, particularly anti-ballistic missile systems, the Kyiv Independent newspaper reported on Wednesday.

"When it comes to air defense against missiles, we rely on our friends," the letter, shared by the Kyiv Independent, says.

"When it comes to defending against ballistic missiles, we rely almost exclusively on the United States," it adds.

According to the report, Zelensky notes that the current pace of deliveries through the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) programme is no longer keeping up with the reality of the threat Ukraine faces.

Under the PURL scheme, NATO countries work together to buy defence equipment from the United States for Ukraine.

The Interfax Ukraine news agency reported that Zelensky's adviser, Dmytro Lytwyn, confirmed that Zelensky had written to Trump and the US Congress along these lines.

During the past weekend, Russian subjected Ukraine, and Kiev in particular, to one of the heaviest attacks of the war, making using of the new and powerful Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile.

Moscow billed the attack as revenge for a Ukrainian drone attack on a student dormitory in Starobilsk in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region, in which 21 civilians were reported by the occupying authorities to have been killed.

The Kiev General Staff said the attack had been aimed at a Russian military drone unit.

Photo: EPA