British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he and a number of European leaders will travel to the United States next month to try to persuade President Donald Trump to transfer some of Ukraineʼs stockpile of Patriot missiles to its air defense systems before winter.
He said this in a comment to Bloomberg.
“I look forward to going to New York in September,” Burnham said, referring to the upcoming UN General Assembly. It will be his first visit to the US as head of government.
Burnham arrived in Kyiv for the first time on Ukrainian Independence Day, August 24. The politician noted that he was returning home with “real optimism” that Ukraine’s current difficulties in defending against Russian ballistic strikes due to its low stock of interceptor missiles “can be resolved”.
According to him, European leaders are considering holding another meeting of the "Coalition of the Willing" on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. One of the main topics could be the search for additional interceptor missiles, in particular for the American Patriot systems.
"This seems to be the most likely direction of movement. It has not been confirmed yet, but it seems that the majority is leaning towards it," the British Prime Minister added.
He also noted that the UK does not have the Patriot missiles that Ukraine needs, but London can influence other European partners who are able to participate in the transfer of such missiles.
Patriot missiles for Ukraine
On July 29, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that during his last meeting with Trump at the White House, he asked him to provide Ukraine with an emergency “winter package” of 300 Patriot interceptor missiles. The media reported that Trump refused, in part because of the shortage of these missiles in the United States.
Later, at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council on August 5, Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine had received a refusal from its partners to transfer additional anti-ballistic systems. He did not rule out that this could be in order for Ukraine to become “more compliant”.
According to the president, in the first half of 2026, the supply of missiles for Ukraineʼs air defense from partners decreased by three times compared to last year. The official reason, which the partners informed Kyiv, was the hostilities in the Middle East. Trump also stated that the United States itself needs these missiles.
Zelensky stated that 5% of the current American stockpile of Patriot interceptor missiles would help Ukraine get through the winter and save lives, and 10% would be enough to stop all Russian ballistic missiles.
In early July, at the NATO summit in Ankara, the US president announced that Washington would grant Kyiv a license to produce Patriot missiles. However, he later noted that the US “has to be very careful” about allowing Ukraine to produce Patriot missiles. As of July 31, he had not yet made a final decision on whether to grant Ukraine such licenses.
The Telegraph reported that Trump changed his decision to transfer Patriot missile production licenses to Ukraine due to concerns that these technologies could fall into Russian hands.
On August 5, Reuters reported that despite Trumpʼs public statements, the US Vice President J.D. Vance assured the Ukrainian leadership in a telephone conversation that the agreements remained in effect.
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