Ukraine relies on US-manufactured Patriot air-defence systems to effectively counter Russian ballistic missile attacks, which the Kremlin has substantially increased in recent months. Patriots were, after all, developed to thwart Soviet missiles during the Cold War. But a CNN report, citing US officials, this week found the US military had burned through nearly four-fifths of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile inventory in its war with Iran and roughly half of its Patriot interceptors since February. Reuters, citing unidentified US sources in another report, said the US Army had used up “virtually all” of its global stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles during its war with Iran.