Donald Trump hinted that the U.S. might allow Ukraine to produce its own Patriot air defense missile systems to respond to the increasingly intense Russian attacks recently.
On Wednesday, 8 Jul 2026 GMT+7, U.S. President Donald Trump revealed he would discuss various plans with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to enable Ukraine to produce Patriot air defense systems themselves amid heavy Russian attacks.
"I think one of the many things we'll be discussing is, as you know, about the companies—we have considerable control over those companies—that manufacture the Patriot systems and all the top military equipment, including Tomahawk missiles and all those cool things," Trump said during a bilateral meeting with Zelensky.
"We are going to grant you a license to produce it yourselves, which is fantastic. This will remove any accusations that we are withholding these systems from you," Trump added.
Later, when reporters pressed on the urgency of Ukraine needing the air defense systems now rather than in the future, and that developing new production lines might take some time, Trump responded, "I think they can produce it quite quickly."
According to Zelensky's disclosures, Ukraine is currently experiencing a severe shortage of missiles for its Patriot systems and has requested allies to supply more. Ukraine has also asked the U.S. to grant a license allowing domestic production. Currently, only Japan and Germany have the rights to manufacture Patriot systems within their own countries.
The U.S.-made Patriot air defense system is the only weapon capable of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles, and shortages of these systems have resulted in significant casualties in Ukraine.
Russian attacks in Kyiv last week killed 30 people, and just four days later, another wave of attacks on Ukraine's capital caused an additional 19 deaths.
The Ukrainian military admitted that their air defense systems failed to intercept the barrage of Russian ballistic missiles fired overnight through to Wednesday.
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Source:cnn