THE HAGUE: US President Donald Trump indicated on Wednesday (Jun 25) he will consider providing more of the Patriot missiles that Ukraine needs to defend against mounting Russian strikes, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin “really has to end that war”.
His remarks came after a 50-minute meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of a NATO summit in The Hague. Both leaders described it as a positive step in a conflict that Trump described as “more difficult than other wars”.
During a press conference in which he celebrated his own diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, Trump said the Patriots were “very hard to get” but that “we are going to see if we can make some of them available”.
Zelenskiy mentioned air-defence systems but it was not immediately clear whether Trump was referring to more missiles or complete batteries.
Trump also left open the possibility of providing more military aid to Kyiv, which has suffered grinding Russian advances on the battlefield in recent months.
He had previously shown no sign of resuming the donations of weaponry to Ukraine that his predecessor Joe Biden had instituted after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Asked directly whether the US would contribute more funding to Ukraine’s defence this year, Trump said: “As far as money going, we’ll see what happens.”
