Zelenskyy Warns Russia Timing Massive Strike to US Midterms as Patriot Missiles Years Away

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that Russian forces are preparing a large-scale attack on energy and logistics infrastructure, deliberately timed to coincide with the U.S. midterm elections on Tuesday. The calculation, he said, is simple: global attention will be fixed on American vote-counting, leaving Ukraine’s air defense shortages and the war itself in the shadows.

“We have intel that Russia is preparing a new massive attack on our country – primarily targeting energy and logistics,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address. “The assumption is basically that tomorrow the world will be watching the American midterms, and what is happening here in Ukraine, along with our difficulties with air defense and Patriot missiles, will be overlooked.”

The warning follows a strike on November 2 that hit a school serving as a humanitarian aid distribution point in Komyshuvakha, a settlement in the Zaporizhzhia region. The death toll has risen to 53, including civilians, police officers, and rescue workers. Search teams spent days pulling bodies from the rubble.

Ukraine’s power grid has been a consistent Russian target since the February 2022 invasion. Zelenskyy argued that the only effective deterrent is economic pressure severe enough to leave Moscow no choice but to end the war. “We must not play games with Russia’s oil or gas revenues,” he said. “America can do this.”

The air defense gap is immediate. Zelenskyy has offered to suspend Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries for a month if the United States delivers Patriot missile interceptors during the same period — ammunition Kyiv says it is willing to purchase. The State Department approved a potential $2.1 billion sale of 500 PAC-3 interceptors, but newly manufactured missiles are not expected until 2030 at the earliest, with full delivery projected by 2033.

Zelenskyy has pressed American partners to draw from existing U.S. and allied stockpiles to cover the coming winter. Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues diplomatic efforts to end the nearly five-year conflict. Special envoy Steve Witkoff and advisor Jared Kushner have participated in talks in Norway and Miami, with further meetings scheduled in Abu Dhabi.

Ukraine’s General Staff accused Moscow on Monday of exploiting a six-day humanitarian pause in Oleshky, in the Kherson region, to rotate troops, reinforce defenses, and improve battlefield logistics. The ceasefire, which ran from October 27 to November 1, was brokered with the involvement of First Lady Melania Trump and allowed hundreds of civilians to evacuate. The White House confirmed her role in facilitating the arrangement.