There are specific agreements on transferring to Ukraine licences to produce missiles for Patriot systems. President Donald Trump confirmed this at a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart on 22 September.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this on 25 September during an audio briefing with journalists.
“President Trump stressed that, yes, I have made the final decision — Ukraine will receive licences to produce Patriot missiles,” Zelenskyy recounted.
Yesterday, he explained to journalists that the timeframe for when Ukraine will receive the licences is unknown. In addition, Ukrainian manufacturers need time to set up the processes, so the need to obtain ready-made air defence missiles remains.
- At present, only Patriot systems can shoot down Russian ballistic missiles in Ukraine. Due to a shortage of anti-ballistic missiles, there have been several attacks this year when Ukraine was unable to intercept a single enemy weapon.
- This summer, Trump said he agreed to grant Ukraine production licences. Kyiv had asked the previous administration for this as well, but was refused.
- In early August, the US President, speaking to journalists at the White House, effectively acknowledged his reluctance to provide Ukraine with interceptor missiles for Patriot air defence systems. Trump said that “we need them ourselves too”.
- After that, the Ukrainian side reported that the dialogue with the United States on the licences was continuing.