President Donald Trump is now saying the United States has not agreed to let Ukraine produce Patriot missiles, a sharp shift from comments he made only weeks ago about giving Kyiv the right to make the weapons. The latest Ukraine Patriot missile remarks came Friday at a cabinet meeting, where Trump said the administration was still discussing the idea but had not approved it.
Trump described the technology as too sensitive to hand over lightly. He said the missiles are extraordinary weapons and that Washington has to be careful about allowing another country to build them. He also warned that countries given such technology could someday turn on the United States, underscoring the caution that now surrounds the proposal.
In comments to the Financial Times, Trump said he was not sure about allowing Ukraine to make Patriot missiles and said the matter was still under review. He also said he wants the war between Russia and Ukraine to end. The newspaper quoted him as saying the United States does not really license equipment in that way, a sign that the plan remains unsettled inside his administration.
The shift matters because Trump had previously told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a NATO summit in Ankara that Washington would give Ukraine a license to make Patriots. At the time, he said the country could produce them quickly once the idea was explained. Earlier this week, Trump hosted Zelensky at the White House, where the two again discussed Ukraine’s need for stronger air defenses.
After that meeting, Zelensky told Fox News that Trump had agreed to give Ukraine licenses for domestic production of Patriot missiles. But there was no official US confirmation of military aid, and Trump’s Friday comments complicated the picture. Zelensky also met with leaders from Lockheed Martin, the American weapons company that makes Patriots, during that same visit.
