US President Donald Trump said on Friday that America has not agreed to Ukraine building Patriot missiles, but that talks are ongoing, adding that the US must be “very careful about letting somebody build them”.
Trump said during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey this month that he was going to give Ukraine a licence to manufacture Patriot missile interceptors to help defend against Russian strikes, but has since backed away from that pledge despite hosting Zelensky at the White House this week.
Asked about the Patriot missiles during a cabinet meeting at the Camp David retreat on Friday, Trump emphasised concerns about sharing advanced US weaponry including missile technology.
“It’s a big step,” Trump said.
“In the case of President Zelensky, he’d like to have some Patriots, he’d like to have some Tomahawks, which are, you know, lethal – one offensive, one defensive.”
A man looks at a Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement model by Lockheed Martin at an international military fair in Kielce, Poland, in September 2017. Photo: Reuters
“You have to be very judicious, but you have to be very careful. Now we have not agreed to that,” Trump said.