Zelensky says Trump has made his 'final decision' to produce Patriot missiles in Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that Donald Trump had made his “final decision” to deliver to Ukraine the licenses to produce Patriot air defense missiles that kyiv demands in the face of Russian ballistic missiles.

“During our last meeting, President Trump confirmed to me that yes, he had made a final decision: Ukraine will receive licenses for the production of Patriot missiles,” he said in a voice message to journalists, after meeting his American counterpart in New York this week. Volodymyr Zelensky estimated earlier this week that launching Patriot production in Ukraine could take “a year to a year and a half.”

At the beginning of September, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that the United States was negotiating with Ukraine to grant a license to produce Patriot interceptors, an issue on which Donald Trump appeared to change his mind several times. Marco Rubio nevertheless stressed that granting licenses would not provide an “immediate solution” to the problems currently facing Ukraine.

Very expensive and difficult to obtain missiles

If kyiv succeeds in intercepting the majority of Russian drones, ballistic missiles, which are even more destructive, are also much more difficult to counter and Russia uses them more and more often, in particular to attack large Ukrainian cities. PAC-3 interceptors for Patriot systems are the only ones, according to kyiv, capable of destroying ballistic missiles. They are very expensive and difficult to obtain, and their global shortage has worsened since the war between the United States and Iran this year.

During a visit to Washington in July, Volodymyr Zelensky claimed to have “discussed licenses for the production of Patriot interceptors” with Donald Trump. The American president had estimated that the United States must be “very careful” before authorizing Ukraine to produce missiles for the Patriot systems.