Patriot missile systems are “very hard to get,” and the US needs them too, the president said
US President Donald Trump says he will think about whether or not to supply more Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine, as Kiev has been requesting.
Speaking at a press conference in The Hague after meeting with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit, Trump was asked by a BBC Ukraine journalist whether Washington would be providing the missiles.
“The systems are very hard to get,” he replied, adding that the US also needs them. Noting that some Patriots were being sent to Israel, Trump said the administration would “see if we can make some of them available.”
Ahead of the meeting, Zelensky said that Kiev was ready to buy the systems and “support American weapons manufacturers” if Washington refused to donate them. The Ukrainian leader has previously asserted that the Patriot was the only system that could viably counter Russian missiles. However, Moscow has disputed claims about the Patriot’s effectiveness, and even Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yury Ignat acknowledged in an interview with Le Monde last month that the American system has shown critical limitations against Russia’s weaponry.
As of May, Ukraine reportedly had six operational Patriot systems, most of which were donated by the US and Germany, with additional components provided by the Netherlands and Romania. Zelensky has previously stated that Ukraine aimed to acquire a total of 25 units and urged Kiev’s European backers to fund the purchase of another ten at a cost of $15 billion. The Trump administration had dismissed the proposal as a pipedream.
When asked directly whether the US would contribute to the $5 billion in military aid pledged to Ukraine by other NATO countries, Trump only told reporters that the hostilities must end.
Trump has pushed for a negotiated settlement to the Ukraine conflict since taking office in January, while voicing frustration over the slow pace of peace talks. On Wednesday, he said that he planned to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin in hopes of bringing the conflict to an end, though he did not specify when the conversation might take place. Earlier this week, he said he hoped to reach a “deal with Russia” to stop the fighting.
Moscow has maintained that it is willing to hold talks “without preconditions,” but insists that any lasting agreement must reflect the current realities on the battlefield and establish Ukrainian neutrality.
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