US President Donald Trump said he will grant Ukraine a license to manufacture missiles for Patriot air defense systems, ending Kyiv's dependence on foreign supplies. He made the announcement at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after their meeting at the NATO summit in Ankara.
“We will give you a license to produce them, show you how it’s done. So you won’t be able to complain that we’re not giving them to you,” Trump said. He added that the United States has influence over companies that produce weapons, including Patriot and Tomahawk cruise missiles.
When asked about Ukraine’s immediate need for air defense systems and the time required to start domestic production, Trump said he believed manufacturing could begin “fairly quickly.” He did not specify whether production would be allowed on Ukrainian territory or in Europe, saying only, “We’ll discuss that.”
Patriot systems remain the only Western weapon in Ukraine’s arsenal capable of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles. Kyiv has long pressed Washington not only for increased deliveries but also for the right to produce the missiles domestically. Currently, only Japan and Germany hold licenses to manufacture Patriot missiles.
Ukrainian authorities link the shortage of these systems to a rise in casualties from Russian strikes. According to the Ukrainian side, on the night of July 8, air defense forces failed to intercept any of the Russian ballistic missiles fired at the country.
During the meeting with Zelensky, Trump also said he plans to hold a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He described Putin’s conditions for ending the war as “changing” but said Putin “wants to end the war.” Trump suggested that a meeting between Putin and Zelensky could take place “soon,” but called both leaders “difficult” and compared them to two children in a park who “sometimes need to be allowed to fight.”
Trump asked Zelensky whether he was ready to travel to Moscow for negotiations. Zelensky joked in response that this would be difficult because there are “many Ukrainian drones” there.
The US president also described Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory as escalation, but said such escalation could help bring the war to an end. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously gave a similar assessment, saying Ukraine had significantly expanded its ability to strike targets deep inside Russia, which could create room for negotiations.