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Joe Biden was briefed on the document leak last week and will “stay briefed,” White House spokesman John Kirby said. In December Joe Biden agreed to deploy a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine.

Kyiv has been asking for Western air defence systems for months, and the White House announced last week that it would send additional air defence interceptors and ammunition to Ukraine as part of its $2.6 billion (£2 billion) aid package. In the first months of the invasion Russia initially focussed on ground offensives as well as flying combat jets to bomb military targets in Ukraine.īut as the Russian forces got bogged down in the ground offensive, Ukraine gradually won control of the skies, making it too risky for Russia to use its expensive fighter jets. It opened the possibility the Kremlin could start deploying fighter jets in a major development that could jeopardise Ukraine’s much-anticipated counter-offensive. Russia could deploy fighter jetsĪir defence systems used to protect front line Ukrainian troops would be out by May 23, it said. There were 25 S-300 batteries currently operating, according to the leaked document. The estimate was based on how quickly they were being used in February.Īt that time Ukraine’s S-300 batteries were using 200 missiles a month, and the Buk ones 69 missiles a month, according to the document.Īnother 64 missiles a month were being fired from Nasams and Iris-T systems. However, according to a memo dated Feb 28, Ukraine’s stock of Buk missiles may be completely depleted by April 13, and the S-300 missiles by May 3. Nearly 90 per cent of Ukraine’s air defence is based on Soviet-era S-300 and Buk long-range surface-to-air systems, which can target most aircraft and incoming cruise and ballistic missiles. The documents were posted online last week and were said to lay out the Pentagon’s analysis of Ukraine’s and Russia’s capabilities on the battlefield.

It suggested Kyiv was in need of a massive injection of missiles from its allies to prevent Vladimir Putin unleashing his air force. A cornerstone of Ukraine’s air defence could be out of ammunition this week, according to purported leaked US documents.