Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that technical details still need to be agreed with the United States before Patriot air-defence missile production can begin in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he would allow Kyiv to manufacture them.
“And now, after our agreement with the president, our teams…must agree on all the remaining technical aspects,” said Zelenskyy, answering a question on the Patriot system during a WhatsApp briefing with journalists.
“We are working with our European partners to obtain additional missiles, as we do not yet have our own system, of course.”
Speaking alongside Zelenskyy at the NATO summit in Ankara on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said Washington would give Kyiv “the right to make Patriots,” the long‑range air defence missiles Kyiv has repeatedly requested to protect its cities and energy grid from Russian strikes.
“We’ll show them how to do it,” Trump said, describing the system as “very complex” but insisting Kyiv would “figure out the complexity quickly.”
He said US industry was already building “four plants” and claimed that “all of our companies will be able to do this in two to three months”, contrasting this with the lengthy delivery times currently faced by allies placing new Patriot orders.
Kyiv has been asking the US for over half a year to provide its with license to be able to make its own Patriot interceptor missiles in Ukraine, but Washington had so far refused.
Trump said the idea of licensed production in Ukraine will deflect criticism that Washington is not supplying enough high‑end air defence systems.
“This way you can’t complain that we’re not giving them enough and instead, make them yourself,” he said.
He also suggested the US manufacturer involved had not yet been informed. “We haven’t informed the company of that yet, but that’ll work out all right. I’m sure they’ll be thrilled,” he said.
The US-made Patriot system remains Ukraine’s only effective defence against ballistic missiles, but officials say supplies of interceptors have fallen critically low.
Manufactured in the US by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, Patriots have been widely relied upon by US allies, not least in the Gulf, as well as by Ukraine. But the US and Israel’s war on Iran has depleted almost a third of the global stockpile of Patriot interceptors. According to some estimates, Gulf states have collectively fired more than 1,100 of them in the past few months.
According to Zelenskyy, Lockheed Martin produces roughly 600 interceptors a year, or about 60-65 per month.
Ukrainian officials say Russia is producing around 120 ballistic missiles monthly, alongside other systems, and has increasingly tailored its strikes to exploit gaps in Ukraine’s air defence, recently launching around 30 ballistic missiles in a single night.
Additional sources • AFP
Read the full article here