{"id":125560,"date":"2026-07-08T19:42:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T19:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/125560\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T19:42:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T19:42:14","slug":"trump-approves-patriot-license-for-ukraine-amid-russian-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/125560\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump approves Patriot license for Ukraine amid Russian attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) \u2014 U.S. President Donald Trump said at a NATO summit Wednesday in Turkey that the U.S. will give Ukraine a license to make Patriot air defense systems<\/a> to counter missile attacks from Russia in their more than four-year war<\/a>, a huge coup for Kyiv which has long requested the technology.<\/p>\n

Allowing foreign manufacture of Patriots, which the U.S. had resisted, was a turnaround for Trump that mirrored his day at the NATO meeting: Upon arriving, he lashed out at European partners for resisting his efforts to take control of Greenland<\/a> and for not supporting his war in Iran. But by day\u2019s end, he described a gathering of unity and \u201ctremendous love,\u201d and praised member nations on their progress in increasing their defense spending. <\/p>\n

NATO\u2019s European members plus Canada have scrambled to meet the alliance\u2019s increased defense spending targets<\/a>, which Trump has demanded as the U.S. draws down troops in Europe and insists the continent take more responsibility for its own security.<\/p>\n

Trump had reopened old wounds among the 32 NATO leaders<\/a> by insisting again ahead of the summit that the U.S. should control Greenland, a semiautonomous Danish territory<\/a>. That led Denmark\u2019s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to say her country is \u201cready to defend every inch of NATO including our own territory.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: Trump says US will give Ukraine license to produce Patriot defense systems\n <\/p>\n

President Donald Trump has strong words for Iran, while at the NATO summit in Turkey. AP correspondent Donna Warder reports.<\/p>\n

Trump also blasted some European countries for refusing to participate in the Iran campaign, singling out Spain<\/a> as \u201ca terrible partner in NATO\u201d and renewing his threats<\/a> to cut off trade.<\/p>\n

Trump strikes a positive tone on Zelenskyy<\/p>\n

But the tone of Trump\u2019s meeting with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a break from earlier encounters which ended in acrimony<\/a>, and Trump praised the Ukrainian leader\u2019s willingness to reach a deal on ending the fighting in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve actually developed a good relationship. It\u2019s hard to believe,\u201d Trump said during a news conference with Zelenskyy, adding that he believed a deal on ending the war was on the horizon and that the U.S. would \u201cwork on some kind of security package\u201d to provide to Ukraine. <\/p>\n

Trump said the Ukrainian president has \u201cdone an amazing job\u201d and \u201cbeen very effective\u201d in the war as he pledged to grant Ukraine a license to manufacture the Patriot defense systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll give them the right to make Patriots. We\u2019ll show them how to do it,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI think they can produce them pretty quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patriots are expensive, in high demand and take a long time to produce. Zelenskyy has for years been asking for more of them, and more recently for a license so that Ukraine can manufacture its own. <\/p>\n

NATO chief backs latest US strikes on Iran<\/p>\n

Ahead of the summit, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte praised Trump for the series of U.S. strikes on Iran<\/a> overnight, after Tehran struck three merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think what you did last night was absolutely necessary,\u201d Rutte said to Trump. \u201cIt was a very strong response, and I\u2019m with you on this.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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The U.S. strikes, as well as the revoking of a license allowing Iran to sell its oil on global markets, underscored the fragility of an interim deal to end months of fighting. <\/p>\n

Trump said of the interim agreement with Iran: \u201cFor me, I think it\u2019s over\u201d \u2014 but added he will allow talks to continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a waste of time dealing with them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

NATO leaders sought to show Trump they were boosting defense<\/p>\n

Rutte has dedicated a huge amount of energy<\/a> to keeping Trump\u2019s support for NATO and to holding the summit together. On Wednesday, he sought to tamp down the president\u2019s ire by giving him credit for recent increases in defense spending from NATO allies.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrab the win. It\u2019s there,\u201d Rutte told Trump on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The NATO chief pointed to countries including Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Denmark that are investing more in defense, but noted that the Trump administration expects \u201cthe Europeans and Canadians will equalize their spending with the United States.\u201d <\/p>\n

Last month Rutte went to Washington to hail the \u201cTrump Trillion\u201d \u2014 the $1.2 trillion that European allies and Canada have added to defense spending since Trump came to power in 2017.<\/p>\n

As leaders converged on Ankara, Rutte hosted a \u201cbig reveal\u201d event to showcase the many deals planned for the increased spending \u2014 much of it to be spent on U.S. companies, creating thousands of jobs for Americans.<\/p>\n

At last year\u2019s summit, the allies agreed to invest 5% of their gross domestic product on defense <\/a> \u2014 3.5% on their defense budgets and 1.5% on infrastructure so troops and equipment can move faster in times of conflict. <\/p>\n

Yet figures released by NATO on Tuesday showed that Slovenia, Belgium, Spain and the Czech Republic have struggled to meet the alliance\u2019s old spending target of 2% of GDP.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration wants to see a leaner \u201cNATO 3.0,\u201d with Europe taking responsibility for its own security, including Ukraine, with conventional weapons while America would continue to provide its nuclear umbrella.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon has launched a six-month review of U.S. military presence<\/a> in Europe, leaving allies to seek clarity on just how deeply Trump intends to cut U.S. force numbers.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy pushes for NATO entry<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy made a fresh appeal Tuesday for Ukraine to be allowed to join the alliance, saying Ukrainian armed forces are highly experienced and would only boost NATO\u2019s defense capabilities. Russia is vehemently opposed to that. <\/p>\n

Zelenskyy has highlighted Ukraine\u2019s adaptability and its ability to strike deep inside Russia. He said Ukraine\u2019s armed forces are \u201celiminating\u201d on average 30,000 Russian troops every month. <\/p>\n

In a declaration following Wednesday\u2019s summit, NATO leaders pledged to provide Ukraine with $80 billion to help meet its defense needs this year and next, noting \u201cthe long-term threat Russia poses to Euro-Atlantic security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concern has been mounting among some countries with borders near Russia that Moscow might be preparing a hybrid attack \u2014 a combination of conventional warfare with tactics like cyberattacks \u2014 on the continent as Russian President Vladimir Putin struggles to secure victory in Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump administration to lift Syria\u2019s terrorism designation<\/p>\n

Trump also met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa<\/a>, a former insurgent who led the offensive that unseated autocrat Bashar Assad in December 2024. Despite having once been an al-Qaida fighter, al-Sharaa has won Trump\u2019s backing as he seeks to rebuild Syria and restore its shattered ties with the West.<\/p>\n

Later, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that Trump has told U.S. lawmakers that the U.S. will soon remove Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism as part of a year-long normalization process with the country\u2019s new government.<\/p>\n

\u201cLifting sanctions on Syria will unlock international trade and investment, give Syria a chance to rebuild, and open up a new chapter for the Syrian people,\u201d Rubio said. <\/p>\n

In June 2025, Trump signed an executive order ending a number of economic sanctions before revoking the terrorism designation a few weeks later for al-Sharaa, though the designation for Syria remained.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

Associated Press journalists Collin Binkley and Michelle L. Price in Washington and Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations contributed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANKARA, Turkey (AP) \u2014 U.S. President Donald Trump said at a NATO summit Wednesday in Turkey that the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[28575,8978,28590,1157,184,1162,57,1160,2271,18940,2375,1596,3396,6527,74,2378,1158,5564,2048,2272,155,241,1887,3399,3595,1161],"class_list":["post-125560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-greenland","tag-ahmad-al-sharaa","tag-ap-top-news","tag-bashar-assad","tag-diplomacy","tag-donald-trump","tag-general-news","tag-greenland","tag-international-agreements","tag-iran","tag-iran-war","tag-marco-rubio","tag-mark-rutte","tag-mette-frederiksen","tag-military-and-defense","tag-nato","tag-north-atlantic-treaty-organization","tag-politics","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-syria","tag-terrorism","tag-turkey","tag-ukraine","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","tag-washington-news","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116886067555985159","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}