Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, from left, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's president, and Senator Jim Risch, a Republican from Idaho, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. WASHINGTON – A Ukrainian factory to build anti-missile interceptors could be up and running in 12 months or less, the country’s ambassador to the United States said on Thursday, but that’s still not fast enough to get through the coming winter when Russian dictator Vladimir Putin will likely try to kill as many Ukrainians as possible with his ballistic missiles. “He has the intention to destroy Ukraine,” Olga Stefanishyna told reporters, renewing the request for US-made Patriot missiles. “For this winter, we need the missiles.” She said that since the start of Putin’s full-scale invasion, he rarely used more than a single ballistic missile in his near-nightly attacks against Ukrainian cities — until several months ago, when Ukraine’s homegrown defence industry developed cheap and effective countermeasures against drones and cruise missiles, which previously had been the primary weapons in the barrages. Now, Russia is using between 30 and 40 ballistic missiles at a time in its attacks. Ballistic missiles follow suborbital trajectories that take them into space before their payloads fall back toward their targets, traveling several thousand miles per hour. Cruise missiles are powered by jet engines and can move at 500 or so miles per hour, while drones are slower still. President Donald Trump, at a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, announced at the NATO summit in Turkey earlier this month that the US would allow Ukraine to build its own Patriot anti-missile armaments. US supplies of the weapon have been significantly depleted by his now five-month-old war against Iran. Stefanishyna said the normal time frame for building a Patriot interceptor plant was between one and five years, although given the urgency of the situation and Ukrainian technical expertise, she would not be surprised to see it operational in six months. Stefanishyna was accused by Ukrainian prosecutors of embezzlement and other misconduct a decade ago when she served in a different capacity and will be returning to Kyiv after her replacement is chosen. She denies wrongdoing and did so again Thursday at the gathering hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. She became Ukraine’s ambassador to the US nearly a year ago and set out on a mission to take Ukraine’s story everywhere she could to counter Russian propaganda, including places where that message was not welcome, such as MAGA-dominated spaces. “I simply show up everywhere where nobody wants to see me,” she said. She said that Trump confidante Laura Loomer’s recent visit to Ukraine was a successful result of that mission and she hopes other pro-Trump “influencers” will also make that trip and, like Loomer, tell their followers that they had been wrong about Ukraine. A pro-Russia, anti-Ukraine stance had been an article of faith among fervent Trump supporters since Putin began his invasion in early 2022. Trump at that time called the invasion “genius” and “savvy.” Only in recent months, as Ukraine appears to have turned the tide against Russia by all-but-stopping Russia’s ground advance and striking military and oil industry targets deep inside its borders, has Trump started praising Zelenskyy. Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster. Related... Trump Meets With Key Players In Ukraine And Iran Wars, But Offers No Update On Progress 'We Will Not Back Down': Andy Burnham Promises UK Will Continue Backing Ukraine 'Toxic Atmosphere' Surrounds Putin As Russian Casualties Mount On Ukraine Battlefield