Trump to license Patriot missile production for Ukraine, amid Russian strikes

Trump said the United States would license Ukraine to produce Patriot missile defense systems, a move he made at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, as Russian missile and drone strikes killed at least three people in Ukraine overnight. Trump also told Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Washington would give Kyiv a license to manufacture Patriot interceptor missiles, opening the possibility that Ukraine could build the weapons itself rather than wait on deliveries from abroad.

In military terms, it is not the same as handing over a fresh battery of Patriots; it authorizes Ukraine to manufacture the interceptor missiles that make the system work against ballistic threats. In legal terms, it requires U.S. approval to transfer production rights, and any arrangement needs buy-in from U.S. industry and government agencies. The companies behind the system had not yet been informed, and production remains years away.

The announcement departs from past U.S. positioning under Trump, when Washington resisted allowing foreign manufacture of Patriot systems. The shift follows months of Russian strikes and Ukraine’s effort to shore up its air defenses in a war that has stretched beyond four years.

Russian strikes on Kyiv killed at least 12 people on July 6, and another attack in the Kyiv area killed at least 14 civilians overnight into July 6, bringing the total dead there to 28. More than 80 people were injured in that overnight attack. Those strikes exposed Ukraine’s shortage of U.S.-made air-defense interceptors at a time when Patriot systems remain among the few weapons in Ukraine’s arsenal capable of intercepting ballistic missiles.

Ukraine first received U.S.-made Patriot systems in 2023 and later received additional batteries from European partners. Ukraine has roughly 10 operational batteries, though the number varies.