Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Friday that former U.S. President Donald Trump has made a “final decision” to grant Ukraine the necessary licenses for producing Patriot air defense missiles, critical for countering Russian ballistic missile threats, according to reports.
During a recent meeting, Trump confirmed to Zelensky that Ukraine would receive the licenses for Patriot missile production, Zelensky stated in a voice message to journalists after meeting his American counterpart in New York this week.
This announcement follows Zelensky’s earlier remarks this week estimating that the start of Patriot missile production in Ukraine could take “between one year and a year and a half.”
At the beginning of September, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned that negotiations were ongoing regarding the licensing for Patriot missile interceptors, a matter that Trump appeared to have reconsidered multiple times.
Rubio noted, however, that issuing these licenses would not provide an “immediate solution” to the pressing challenges Ukraine currently faces.
While Kyiv has managed to intercept most Russian drones, the more destructive ballistic missiles are significantly harder to counter, with Russia increasingly using them to target major Ukrainian cities.
The PAC-3 interceptors for the Patriot systems are reportedly the only ones capable of destroying ballistic missiles, according to Ukrainian sources.
These missiles are expensive and challenging to acquire, and the global shortage of such weaponry has been exacerbated by the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran this year.
During a visit to Washington in July, Zelensky mentioned discussing licensing for the production of Patriot interceptors with Trump, who at that time expressed the need for the U.S. to proceed with caution before allowing Ukraine to manufacture missiles for the Patriot systems.
