Trump Says U.S. Has Not Approved Ukraine's Patriot Missile Production

ABC News

U.S. President Donald Trump.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington has not agreed to allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot missile interceptors, although discussions on the matter are continuing.

Trump had told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting in Türkiye earlier this month that the United States would grant Ukraine a licence to produce Patriot missile interceptors to strengthen its air defences against Russian attacks. However, he has since appeared to step back from that commitment, despite hosting Zelenskyy at the White House earlier this week.

Speaking during a cabinet meeting at the Camp David presidential retreat on Friday, Trump said the U.S. must be "very careful about letting somebody build them", referring to Patriot missiles. 

"It's a big step," Trump said.

"In the case of President Zelenskiy, he'd like to have some Patriots, he'd like to have some Tomahawks, which are you know lethal — one offensive, one defensive," Trump said.

"You have to be very judicious, but you have to be very careful. Now we have not agreed to that. We're talking about it, but it's a hard thing to give away that kind of technology. And I don't think this would ever happen but, ‌you ⁠know, there's people that you give that technology, they can someday turn on you," Trump said.

As Russia has intensified its aerial attacks, Ukraine has continued to face a critical shortage of Patriot air defence systems, which remain the only weapons in its arsenal capable of intercepting ballistic missiles. Kyiv has long sought a co-production agreement for Patriot PAC-3 missile interceptors, with the aim of manufacturing them domestically to strengthen its air defence capabilities.

President Trump's earlier pledge to grant Ukraine a licence to produce the missiles surprised many observers. Since then, Ukrainian officials have held talks with Pentagon representatives and defence industry executives in an effort to finalise the details of a potential agreement.

Negotiations remain ongoing. Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, Olha Stefanishyna, said on Thursday that she was confident Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the Patriot PAC-3 missile, remained fully committed to expanding its cooperation with Ukraine.



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