Trump says Ukraine can make Patriot missiles

ANKARA: US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Washington would grant Kyiv “the right to make” prized Patriot air-defence systems to repel deadly Russian strikes, without providing a timeline for the pledge.

Ukraine has been struggling to down Russian ballistic missiles since this year’s US-Israeli war against Iran hit supplies of the crucial US-made Patriot interceptors.

“So one of the things we’re going to be talking about is we’re going to give a licence to you to make Patriots. That’s pretty cool, right,” Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Ankara.

“We haven’t informed the company of that yet, but that’ll work out all right,” he said, without elaborating.

Russia’s latest missile and drone strikes on Wednesday killed 10 people across Ukraine, including three in the capital Kyiv, local officials said.

Russia has an advantage in ballistic missiles and exploits Ukraine’s low stockpiles of Patriots to target Kyiv, said Ukrainian military analyst Sergiy Zgurets.

“This allows the adversary to use such attacks as a means of psychological pressure,” he told AFP.

Given the lengthy production times, the licence to make the Patriot, one of the world’s most sophisticated air defence missiles, may not immediately solve Ukraine’s problems.

According to the US Foreign Policy Research Institute, it would take up to 24 months to produce the air defence missile and 30 months to produce its engine.

Despite Russia’s heavy bombardments in recent days, Ukraine has in recent months managed to stabilise the front line and step up strikes deep inside Russia.

Trump said that those strikes could help to end the war.

“It’s an escalation, but it’s also an escalation that can help lead to an end,” Trump said.

Trump and Zelensky appeared to strike a more cordial tone at the meeting, marking a departure from the acrimonious clash in the Oval Office last year.

“It’s hard to believe from the Oval Office to now we’ve developed a very good relationship,” the US president said.