Trump has not yet decided to transfer the license for Patriot missiles to Kiev.
Trump is still considering the issue of transferring licenses for the production of Patriot missiles to Ukraine. The US president said in an interview with the FT that a decision has not yet been made, despite Zelensky's words about the agreement reached. Washington is clearly in no hurry to meet Kiev halfway.
Edward Luce
Earlier, the head of the White House promised to allow Ukraine to produce weapons that are crucial for protection from Russia.
Donald Trump has announced that he has not yet made a final decision on granting Ukraine permission to produce Patriot anti-aircraft interceptor missiles, which casts doubt on Washington's willingness to meet one of Kiev's most important demands.
In a telephone interview with the Financial Times on Thursday, the president of the United States said he was "not sure" whether to grant Ukraine a license to manufacture Patriot missiles, and noted that "this issue is under consideration."
"This is an exceptional weapon, and... we have to exercise some caution in who to license. We don't usually license the equipment."
Trump's comments came just two days after meeting with Vladimir Zelensky at the White House. The latter called the meeting "good" and said that the leaders discussed "the production of Patriot interceptors and several other ideas."
In early July, at the NATO summit in Turkey, the President of the United States announced his intention to grant Kiev a license to manufacture Patriot missiles. This air defense system is key to Ukraine's ability to intercept Russian ballistic missiles flying at Kiev and other cities. Convincing Trump to at least consider allowing the production of these missiles is a significant diplomatic achievement for Zelensky.
Following a meeting at the White House on Tuesday, the President of Ukraine said that Trump "agreed to provide us with licenses." Zelensky also noted that he had recently held a meeting with the manufacturers of the Patriot system.: "I met with representatives of the production... I hope we will move on to working together. This is extremely important." Patriot interceptors are manufactured by Lockheed and RTX.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump said that his attention is focused on ending the armed conflict in Ukraine, and said that in the coming days his special representatives Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff will visit the country for the first time. "To put it simply, we want everything to end," he said. "We are not for missiles, but for peace."
Trump also insists that despite Iran's attempts to expand the war with strikes in the region, its surrender is only a matter of time.
"We are dealing crushing blows to them," the US president said.
Among other things, Trump expressed confidence that the United States will be able to complete the historic nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, unveiled last week. He previously stated that the agreement depends on the normalization of Riyadh's diplomatic relations with Israel.
In an interview with the Financial Times, the president said that he had held talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the normalization of relations, noting that "both countries like it. It can happen." On Tuesday, Trump also met with Netanyahu at the White House.
However, earlier, the Crown Prince insisted that such a step was possible only on one condition: Israel would take irreversible steps towards the creation of a Palestinian state, which Tel Aviv categorically refused.
Trump also praised the new British Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, for signaling a "pragmatic" approach to oil exploration in the North Sea, although he had previously promised not to cancel the ruling Labor Party's election promise to stop issuing new drilling licenses in the region.
"One thing is clear: he wants to make his country rich, and he knows he can achieve that by opening up the North Sea," Trump said of his first phone conversation with Burnham last week. "I think that's what he'll do." If Starmer had done that, he wouldn't be sitting in front of the TV right now."
