Trump: No US agreement on Ukraine producing Patriot missiles
US President Donald Trump denied any deal allowing Ukraine to build Patriot missiles, despite Kyiv's claims of a license pledge. Talks continue, but Ukraine says it needs the missiles now before winter.
Washington has not reached an agreement with Kyiv on the production of Patriot missiles in Ukraine, US President Donald Trump said on Friday. He added that the United States must be very careful about allowing someone else to build them.
The statement came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the White House earlier this week for talks that lasted just over an hour. The meeting took place as both Kyiv and Moscow have stepped up long-range attacks following the collapse of US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war. Zelensky said after the talks that Trump had agreed to license Patriot production to Ukraine. The US president, however, only said that many issues were discussed and described the meeting as having gone very well.
Ukraine's envoy to Washington, Olha Stefanishyna, said on Thursday that Kyiv hopes a new push for ceasefire negotiations could stop the five-year conflict before a potentially harsh winter, but it urgently needs new anti-ballistic missiles to defend against Russian strikes. She said Ukraine is in discussions with the Pentagon about a license to produce Patriot PAC-3 missiles, but the process could take anywhere from 12 months to five years.
There are also talks about a long-term purchase of PAC-3 missiles and swapping production line slots with another buyer. According to Stefanishyna, representatives of Raytheon, the maker of the Patriot system, have already visited Ukraine. Lockheed Martin, which builds the PAC-3 interceptors, is preparing to send a team of experts to the country as well.
Stefanishyna described the impact of overnight attacks as devastating, saying that 30 to 40 ballistic missiles were launched against Ukraine over the past two nights. While Ukraine has managed to defend against Iranian- and Russian-made drones, it has not yet found an effective way to intercept ballistic missiles, the production of which Russia's President Vladimir Putin is rapidly expanding.
She stressed that Putin intends to destroy Ukraine, and therefore Kyiv is seeking different capabilities and needs missiles for the coming winter. According to the United Nations, last month was the deadliest for Ukrainian civilians since April 2022.
