‘I’m not sure’: Trump casts doubt on his offer to let Ukraine produce Patriot missiles

President Donald Trump has not decided whether he will let Ukraine produce Patriot interceptor missiles, he told the Financial Times, despite agreements Washington and Kyiv had previously announced.Speaking with reporters by phone, Trump said he was “not sure” the U.S. would grant Ukraine a license to produce the missiles and that Washington was still considering the matter.“It’s a very extraordinary weapon, and we have to be a little bit careful of who we license to. We don’t really license equipment,” the U.S. president said.Trump said his focus now is on ending the full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine. “Very simply put, we want the war in Ukraine with Russia ended. I’m not looking for missiles. We’re looking for peace,” he said. Trump added that his special envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, would soon travel to Ukraine for their first visit. Patriot missiles are critical to Ukraine’s air defense system, and Kyiv has repeatedly complained of shortages.In early July, at a NATO summit in Ankara, Trump said he would give Ukraine a license to produce Patriot missiles after talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.Trump and Zelensky met in Washington on July 28, a meeting Zelensky called “good.” He said the two discussed licensing Ukraine to produce Patriot missiles. Trump also said the talks went “very well.”At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.