Kiev Urgently Needs These Weapons! US Continues Talks with Ukraine on Patriot Missile Production

A senior Trump administration official said the US is exploring several possible avenues for future defense industry cooperation with Ukraine

Aug 5, 2026 14:5167

      

The US is continuing talks with Ukraine on allowing Kiev to produce Patriot interceptor missiles - a weapon that Kiev urgently needs to protect against Russian attacks - despite President Donald Trump's doubts about such a deal. This was reported by four sources familiar with the discussions to "Reuters".

According to the sources, the negotiations include the possibility of Ukraine producing certain components that would subsequently be assembled elsewhere in Europe.

Kiev is demanding more PAC-3 missiles - the latest model for the "Patriot" system and one of the few weapons capable of hitting ballistic missiles, which Russia has been firing at Ukraine in increasing numbers.

On August 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that the country's stockpile of Patriot interceptor missiles had run out and that only one of the 27 ballistic missiles launched by Moscow that day had been shot down.

During a meeting with Zelensky in Ankara last month, Trump said that the United States would grant Ukraine a license to produce PAC-3 missiles, which would be a major boost for Kiev.

But Trump reversed his decision last week after a meeting with Zelensky at the White House that two of the sources described as difficult.

The US president told reporters that the US had not agreed to allow Ukraine to produce Patriot missiles. and that the country should be "very careful before allowing anyone to produce them".

Zelensky's demands for domestic production of interceptor missiles for the "Patriot" system have been largely ignored by Washington amid the ongoing war, due to security concerns raised by industry and U.S. military officials, three of the sources said.

They said Washington's envoy to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, is leading the negotiations for a deal, and last month he visited Kiev to discuss the issue and assess possible options with Ukrainian government officials and arms industry executives.

Whitaker used his visit to Kiev last month "to explore opportunities for cooperation on battlefield innovations, such as drones, that would benefit the U.S. military," his spokesman said, without specifically mentioning the Patriot initiative.

"There has been no order to stop the discussions," one of the sources said, adding that talks with U.S. arms manufacturers, military officials and other countries are continuing.

According to the four sources Options under consideration include manufacturing components for the Patriot systems in Ukraine and sending them to Germany for final assembly, including Ukraine in an existing US-European Patriot interceptor missile program, and allowing Kiev to produce a cheaper version of the PAC-3 missile.

A senior Trump administration official said the US was "exploring several possible avenues for future defense industry cooperation with Ukraine," adding that any agreement must prioritize the security of American technology.