After meeting with Zelensky at the White House, the U.S. president told the Financial Times he is still weighing the permit, while the request for 300 missiles was rejected.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he was not sure whether Washington would allow Ukraine to produce interceptor missiles for the Patriot system, the Financial Times reports. The uncertainty came just days after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, after which Zelensky said Trump had agreed to grant licenses.
"I'm not sure. We're looking at it," Trump said in a phone interview with the FT. "It's a remarkable weapon, and we have to be somewhat careful about who we give licenses to. We generally don't give licenses for equipment." According to Insider Paper, only U.S. Patriot systems are capable of shooting down Russian ballistic missiles, whose attacks Moscow has recently intensified.
The closed-door meeting between the two leaders took place on July 28. According to sources cited by The Atlantic, Zelensky requested the delivery of 300 interceptor missiles for use during the winter, but Trump rejected that request. He also asked for expanded use of Starlink satellites for strikes deep inside Russia, in order to target Russian ballistic missile launchers. Trump gave no concrete answer, saying only that he would talk to Elon Musk, but he did not provide a timeline or his final decision.
At the meeting, Zelensky argued that Starlink could offer a faster and cheaper response to the threat of Russian ballistic missiles. However, Elon Musk declined to meet with the Ukrainian president, and has previously stated that his technologies were created for peaceful purposes, watching Netflix, remote learning, and relaxation, not for supporting drone strikes.
As early as the beginning of July, Trump had expressed an intention to allow Ukraine to produce Patriot interceptors. Following the meeting, Zelensky publicly said the talks were "good" and that Trump "agreed to give us licenses." The U.S. president's remarks to the FT now cast new light on the matter: "I'm not seeking missiles. We're seeking peace." He added that his envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, would visit Ukraine for the first time in the coming days.
According to officials familiar with the meeting, Trump's final decision on Starlink and missile production will largely depend on whether he believes it could speed up the end of the conflict. If, in his assessment, using Starlink for strikes on Russian territory would push Putin to the negotiating table, he could support it. Otherwise, further escalation is not in the plan.
