Trump now 'not sure' about letting Ukraine build Patriot missiles
Paul Gribbenand
Sareen Habeshian
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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 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.
Zelensky said in a post on X on Friday that he had had a "good" phone call with Vice President JD Vance, in which they followed up on the Ukrainian leader's meeting with Trump earlier this week.
"As Russia's air attacks on our country continue unabated, air defence – specifically Patriot interceptors against ballistic missiles – remains a top priority," Zelensky wrote.
The two agreed to "stay in touch and work through everything discussed today," he added.
Ukraine's air force said recently that a shortage of interceptor missiles was hampering its attempts to shoot down ballistic missiles fired by Russia.
The Patriot is one of the few air defence systems able to intercept ballistic missiles.
It can catch rockets with flight ranges of up to 1,000km (620 miles). One battery can simultaneously track up to eight targets and detect more than 100.
Each missile for the Patriot is estimated to cost from $3m (£2.2m) to $5m.
Zelensky and the Ukrainian army have previously said Ukraine needs 25 Patriot interceptor systems.
Earlier this week, Zelensky condemned as a "horrific crime" a Russian missile attack that killed five members of the same family.
He shared a picture of the Voronov family on social media, writing that parents Artem and Olena and three of their children - Mark, Azariah Ilay, and Emilia - had all been killed after a missile decimated their home.
That was part of an overnight attack in which Russia launched more than 70 missiles and over 280 drones.
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