Zelensky: Trump agreed to grant Ukraine a license to manufacture Patriot missiles

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that US President Donald Trump will allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot missiles, a key demand as Kiev seeks to repel continued Russian air attacks.

"There are concrete agreements already in place," Zelensky told reporters. "During our last meeting, President Trump confirmed, 'Yes, I have made the final decision. Ukraine will get a license to manufacture Patriot missiles.'"

The two parties met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York this week, where Zelensky described his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as “patient zero,” noting that the more Putin is free to move, “the more dangerous the world becomes for everyone.”

For several months, the question loomed over Ukraine as to whether Trump would fulfill his promise to allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot interceptor missiles, an advanced “track and destroy” defense system on which Ukrainians pin their hopes to confront the ongoing Russian ballistic missile attacks.

Trump had hinted - on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey last July - that Ukraine would obtain the right to manufacture Patriot missiles, but he retracted this offer weeks later. CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.