President Donald Trump says the US has “not agreed” to allow Ukraine to produce Patriot interceptor missiles – three weeks after offering the country the right to make the weapons.
“We have not agreed to that. We’re talking about it. But it’s a hard thing to give away, that kind of technology,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting on Friday.
“These weapons are incredible. We have to be very careful about letting somebody build them.”
Kyiv has long sought the missiles, regarded as one of the world’s best air defence systems, which it wants to use to defend its cities from Russian drone and ballistic missile attacks.
“I don’t think this would ever happen, but, you know, those people that you give that technology, they can someday turn on you,” Trump said.
He also told the Financial Times newspaper, external that he was “not sure” about letting Ukraine build Patriot missiles, and that “we’re looking into it”.
Trump is quoted by the newspaper on Friday as saying: “It’s a very extraordinary weapon, and. . . we have to be a little bit careful of who we licence to. We don’t really licence equipment”.
He also said his envoys Jared Kushner, who is also his son-in-law, and Steve Witkoff, a former real estate magnate, would visit Ukraine in the coming days.
“Very simply put, we want the war in Ukraine with Russia ended,” he told the newspaper.
Trump’s latest comments regarding Patriot missiles come weeks after he offered to give Ukraine the right to produce them.
“We are gonna give you a licence to make Patriots,” Trump told Zelensky at a Nato summit in Ankara. “I think they can produce them very quickly once we explain it.”
Earlier this week, he hosted Zelensky at the White House, where they again discussed Kyiv’s hope that the US would help bolster its air defences.
There was no official US confirmation of military assistance to Ukraine, but Zelensky said afterwards that Trump had agreed to give Ukraine licences for domestic production of Patriot missiles.
“He accepted that he will give us licences,” he told Fox News.
On that same visit, Zelensky also met with leaders from the US weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin, which produces Patriots.
