US President Donald Trump’s promise to allow Ukraine to build Patriot interceptor missiles has offered a glimmer of hope to millions of Ukrainians fearful of a deadly Russian ballistic missile attack.
“Little Birdie told me he gave them the right to make patriots,” Trump said on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Turkey.
The announcement came as a surprise, even though Ukraine has been working on the issue for years and there were signs that a deal might be close. President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was sitting next to Trump, looked at times as if he couldn’t believe his good fortune. Relations between the two have been rocky, and the escalating war with Iran appears to have put President Trump in a sour mood just before his meeting with Zelensky.
Trump’s language was very vague, acknowledging that he had not yet discussed the issue with Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, the U.S. companies that make the Patriots. they haven’t commented on it.
President Zelenskiy said that once production begins, Ukraine will eventually be able to produce enough interceptor missiles to meet the needs of its allies as well as its own.
Ukraine has always faced a shortage of Patriot missiles, the only weapon capable of shooting down some of Russia’s most advanced ballistic missiles. But the shortage has worsened in recent weeks, and the consequences have been devastating.
Russian attacks have killed at least 59 people in the Kiev region in the last week alone, with 31 killed in one major airstrike on Thursday and 28 on Monday. More than 200 people were injured.
Many of these deaths could have been prevented if Kiev had provided sufficient interceptor weapons.
Ukraine has become a master at defending its skies against Russian air attacks through a combination of smart domestic technology, Western-supplied weapons, and crude military tactics that include task forces of soldiers and volunteers who repurposed weapons used for other purposes to shoot down drones and missiles.
According to data analysis by the Ukrainian Air Force, Ukraine regularly shoots down 90% of Russian drones and cruise missiles. But ballistic missiles are a different beast, two-thirds of which pass through us on a regular basis.
The Patriots’ deficit created an even bigger hole in the system. Ukraine’s military announced Wednesday that it had not been able to shoot down any of the Russian ballistic missiles launched overnight into Wednesday.
This is because ballistic missiles follow a curved trajectory, leave the Earth’s atmosphere, and then re-enter the atmosphere to reach their target. They move so fast that they are extremely difficult to intercept, and Russia currently launches as many as 100 such missiles each month.
Patriots (Phased Array Tracking Radar for Intercept on Target) is the U.S. Army’s primary missile defense system.
This is the most advanced system available, and the price reflects that. When fully equipped with launchers, radars and interceptors, each battery costs more than $1 billion, and each interceptor can cost up to $4 million, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The technology behind the system is a closely guarded secret, and Japan and Germany are currently the only countries with licenses to co-produce the Patriot domestically. The weapon’s complexity makes it difficult to manufacture modern interceptors, with only 600 being built each year, according to the Pentagon.
The recent conflict between the United States and Iran has put added pressure on already tight supplies, and Zelenskiy said starting domestic production would eventually allow him to produce enough interceptor missiles to meet the needs of his country and its allies.
There are believed to be at least seven Patriot systems in Ukraine. Three of them were sourced from the United States. Three people are from Germany. and at least one person from a group of European allies.
Obtaining the license would be a major step forward for Kiev, but it would not have much effect in the short term. It may take months to start production, but the country needs protection now. Kiev announced on Thursday that it had asked about 40 countries to provide existing stockpiles of missiles to Ukraine as soon as possible “in exchange for future missile deliveries already contracted for Ukraine.”
Securing the license would be a big boost for Kiev, so Russia is closely monitoring developments surrounding the Patriots. The Russian government has made no secret that it is targeting Ukrainian systems and has warned its allies in Kiev not to supply them.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a regular briefing on Thursday that he downplayed the Patriot License promise as a major change in the war, and noted “a certain ambiguity” and “duplicity” in Trump’s position.
