President Donald Trump said that he will allow Ukraine to produce interceptors for the Patriot missile defense system. Ukrainian officials say that Kiev is in desperate need of Patriot interceptors and is unable to down Russian ballistic missiles.
“A little birdie told me this, about the fact that we’ll give them the right to make Patriots,” Trump said at a press conference with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday. “We’ll show them how to do it, it’s very complex actually. But it’s — you’ll figure out the complexity quickly. We’re going to give a license to you to make Patriots.”
Patriots are one of the most advanced interceptors in the American arsenal. However, the US is facing a shortage of the key munition. Under President Joe Biden, the US sent hundreds of Patriots to Ukraine. Additionally, the Department of War used about half its advanced interceptors during the conflict with Iran.
The US can only manufacture about 600 Patriots per year.
Ukraine is facing a shortage of advanced interceptors capable of stopping Russian ballistic missiles. “Our warriors performed well today in intercepting drones and cruise missiles, but unfortunately not Russian ballistic missiles,” Zelensky said on Monday. “The reason lies in the insufficient supply of interceptor missiles.”
In an interview with the Financial Times, he added that missile defense was Ukraine’s greatest weakness. “There remains only one unknown,” he told the outlet. “Unfortunately, it is anti-ballistic defense. That is the major weakness [for Ukraine] in this equation.”
