The US President Donald Trump believes that the US "has to be very careful" about allowing Ukraine to produce interceptor missiles for “Patriot” systems.
He said this during an open meeting of his cabinet at the Camp David residence.
However, the US president said that he had not yet made a final decision on whether to grant such licenses to Ukraine. He also said that “American weapons are the best in the world,” so the US should be prudent.
"As for Zelensky, he would like to get some Patriots. He would like to get some Tomahawk missiles, which, as you know, are deadly — some for offense, some for defense," Trump said.
Trump believes that it would be very difficult to transfer the licenses to manufacture Tomahawk missiles to someone else, so he does not think it will ever happen. According to him, such a transfer “could turn against the United States”.
In early July, at the NATO summit in Ankara, the US president announced that Washington would grant Kyiv a license to produce Patriot missiles. President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that he and Trump also discussed licenses at their meeting on July 28.
On July 23, Zelenskyy reported that the American defense company Raytheon is ready to jointly produce interceptor missiles for Patriot air defense systems with Ukraine.
- Patriot interceptor missiles are manufactured by American defense companies Lockheed Martin and RTX. Therefore, launching their production in Ukraine will require the transfer of American technology and licenses.
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