Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, July 8, 2026

US President Donald Trump stated that the United States will grant Ukraine a license to produce an unspecified type of interceptor missile for Patriot air defense systems, which are critical for Ukraine’s ability to defend against Russian ballistic missiles. Trump stated on July 8 that the United States will provide Ukraine a license to produce unspecified Patriot air defense interceptors and that the production could begin in two to three months.[1] It is unclear whether Trump will approve licensing for Ukraine to produce more capable PAC-3 interceptors or the simpler PAC-2 interceptors. Trump noted that the United States has not yet informed the US manufacturer about licensing Ukraine to produce Patriot interceptors. It is unclear how long it will take for Ukraine to begin producing the interceptor missiles, however, as production capacity will depend on the availability of the base components that go into the Patriot interceptor and the scaling of the entire supply chain that produces those components. Ukrainian forces are quite successful at intercepting cruise missiles and drones, but struggle to intercept ballistic missiles due to Ukraine’s insufficient supply of interceptor missiles. Ukrainian forces notably did not intercept any ballistic missiles in Russia’s two most recent massive strike packages overnight on July 1 to 2 and July 5 to 6.[2] Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) Deputy Head Major General Vadym Skibitskyi stated on July 8 that Russia can produce between 60 and 65 Iskander ballistic missiles per month.[3] Russia may exploit the gap before Ukraine can produce its own Patriot interceptor missiles and intensify ballistic missile strikes against Ukraine to inflict maximum damage before Ukraine is able to more reliably defend itself.