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President Trump on Wednesday said the U.S. is granting Ukraine the ability to co-produce key air-defense weapons, the Patriot missiles, which are critical to defending against Russian ballistic weapon attacks hammering the country.
Trump made the remarks alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from a NATO summit in Turkey following an intensive lobbying campaign by Ukraine for permission to co-produce the Patriots.
“Just a little birdie told me this, about the fact that we’ll give them the right to make Patriots, we’ll show them how to do it,” Trump said.
“It’s very complex, actually, but it’s — you’ll figure out the complexity quickly.”
Trump and Zelensky met on the sidelines of the NATO summit, where a major goal of the gathering was to reinforce global support for Ukraine more than four years after Russia invaded the country.
“So one of the things we’re going to be talking about is … we’re going to give a license to you to make Patriots. That’s pretty cool,” Trump said.
The president said the U.S. does not have “many” Patriot missiles and would not be able to provide them to Ukraine immediately. The missiles would guard against increasing Russian attacks across the country — battering cities with hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles that overwhelm air defense systems.
“We have Patriots, but we don’t have that many. We need them for ourselves too,” Trump said.
Still, Trump’s announcement marked a stunning improvement in the relationship between himself and Zelensky, and between his administration and Ukraine, which has weathered severe ups and downs. Trump remarked that his relationship with Zelensky has warmed since an outburst of fighting between the two leaders in the Oval Office in February 2025.
Ukraine has shifted onto the front foot in the war with Russia recently, demonstrating the ability to hit deep inside Russia with long-range missiles, both provided by allies and made in Ukraine. Trump on Wednesday praised the Ukrainians’ ability to hit long-range targets as increasing pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to come to the negotiating table.
Trump also gave Zelensky a win by dismissing Putin’s offer for negotiations to be held in Moscow.
Zelensky, emboldened by the good meeting, joked that it’s not safe for him to travel to the Russian capital because “there’s too many Ukrainian drones there. … It’s not safe.”
Trump also said he would consider going to Ukraine, but he’d rather “the war be over” before he traveled there.
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