US grants Ukraine licence to produce Patriot missiles

Trump says Washington will give Kyiv permission to manufacture Patriot air-defence systems during NATO summit meeting.

ANKARA: US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Washington would give Kyiv the “the right to make” Patriot air-defence missiles as he met Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky at NATO’s summit.

“So one of the things we’re going to be talking about is we’re going to give a licence to you to make Patriots. That’s pretty cool, right. This way, you can’t complain that we’re not giving them enough,” Trump told Zelensky.

“We haven’t informed the company of that yet, but that’ll work out all right.”

Ukraine has been struggling to shoot down Russian ballistic missile attacks as supplies of the crucial US-made Patriot interceptors run low.

Despite Moscow’s heavy bombardments of Kyiv in recent days, Ukraine appears to be turning the tide in the war by stabilising the front line and conducting strikes deep into Russia.

Trump said that those strikes could help to end the war.

“It’s an escalation, but it’s also an escalation that can help lead to an end,” Trump said.

The US president repeated his belief that both Zelensky and the Russian leader Vladimir Putin want to strike a deal to halt the fighting.

“The president wants to get it done, and I believe that President Putin wants to get it done, and that should be a good combination,” he said.