Washington still refuses to provide more ammunition directly, as its stocks were reportedly depleted during the war with Iran
The US could grant Ukraine a license to manufacture Patriot anti-aircraft missiles, President Donald Trump has said during a meeting with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Türkiye. He maintained, however, that Washington would not supply the missiles directly.
Ukraine has been heavily dependent on weapons from its Western backers throughout most of its conflict with Russia, which is now in its fifth year. Zelensky has repeatedly blamed the West for arms shortages and delays in deliveries, while constantly demanding more aid, including Patriot missiles, saying Ukraine does not have enough interceptors to counter Russian airstrikes.
“We’re going to give a license to you to make Patriots. That’s pretty cool. This way, you can’t complain that we’re not giving them enough,” Trump told Zelensky during a meeting in Ankara on Wednesday.
“It’s a defensive weapon, which I like better than an offensive weapon,” Trump added.
While continuing to support Ukraine, Trump has at times attacked Zelensky, calling him “ungrateful,” and angered many in Kiev by suggesting that Ukraine may have to give up territory to Russia. He has also criticized the previous administration of Joe Biden for aiding Ukraine unconditionally and stressed that European NATO members would pay for US weapons delivered to Kiev through the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) scheme.
The US burned through its arsenal of interceptors during the war with Iran, with an estimate by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) suggesting that the Pentagon used nearly half of its available Patriot missiles by April.
“We have Patriots, but we don’t have that many. We need them for ourselves too,” Trump said in response to a question on whether the US would send the missiles directly. He added that Ukraine could set up production “pretty quickly.”
Bloomberg reported that Ukraine would face challenges in obtaining parts to assemble the sophisticated weapons, considering that the existing supply chain is already strained. “A Patriot missile takes years to build, meaning Ukrainian production of these missiles won’t materialize on the near-term timelines they need,” Becca Wasser, the publication’s defense lead, said.
Russia has warned that continued deliveries of Western arms make NATO members de facto participants in the conflict and risk triggering an all-out war.
In March, the Russian Defense Ministry published what it said are the addresses of companies involved in producing drone components for Ukraine on European territory. The ministry warned that European leaders are “dragging their countries into a war with Russia.”
Assembly lines for Patriot missiles in Ukraine would likely become high-priority targets for Russia. On Wednesday, the Defense Ministry announced strikes on several military sites across Ukraine, including a Samsung Ukraine facility it said was manufacturing components for FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles.
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