President Donald Trump on Friday reversed course on his supply earlier this month to provide Ukraine a license to supply Patriot air protection methods, saying throughout a Cupboard assembly that “we now have not agreed to that.”
“Now we have to be very cautious about letting any individual construct them,” Trump stated as he gathered his high officers at Camp David. “You must be very considered, however it’s important to be very cautious. Now, we now have not agreed to that. We’re speaking about it. Nevertheless it’s a tough factor to provide away that sort of know-how.”
The president’s remarks contradict Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s readout of their Tuesday assembly on the White Home, wherein Zelenskyy stated Trump agreed to supply the license. Zelenskyy, whereas in Washington, met with executives at Lockheed Martin, the U.S. protection large behind the Patriot missiles.
Trump’s Friday feedback are additionally a departure from his own public message to Zelenskyy on the NATO summit in Turkey in early July.
“We will give a license to you to make Patriots. That is fairly cool, proper?” Trump stated to the Ukrainian president the time, including: “This manner he cannot complain that we’re not giving him sufficient. I stated, ‘Make them your self.'”
Secretary of the Inside Doug Burgum, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, President Donald Trump and Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth attend a Cupboard assembly at Camp David in Maryland, July 31, 2026.
Aaron Schwartz/AFP through Getty Photos
Zelenskyy has lengthy raised alarm bells in regards to the speedy depletion of U.S. Patriot missiles, that are broadly thought-about to be the best device to counter Russian missiles and drones.
Simply as Trump’s Cupboard assembly was getting underway, Zelenskyy posted on X that he obtained a “good cellphone name” from Vice President JD Vance and reiterated that the Patriot missiles stay a “high precedence.”
“He’d wish to have some Patriots,” Trump stated of Zelenskyy on Friday. “He’d wish to have some Tomahawks, that are, you already know, deadly. One offensive, one defensive.”
Trump known as it a “massive step” to supply such a license, after which advised that Ukraine or every other nation given the delicate know-how may in the future flip and use such weapons towards the U.S.
“And I do not suppose this could ever occur, however, you already know, these individuals that you simply give that know-how, they’ll sometime activate you. You understand, that’s potential,” Trump stated.
“So, we now have to be very cautious,” he added.
Trump stated he spoke to Zelenskyy, presumably throughout his go to to the White Home earlier this week, in regards to the weapons methods.
“I additionally spoke to him about let’s get this warfare over with,” Trump stated.
Trump stated each Ukraine and Russia must make concessions with the intention to finish the yearslong warfare, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
“I stated, ‘You bought to get this warfare over.’ I believe he desires to make a deal, and I believe Putin desires to make a deal. However there’s plenty of dislike, as you most likely discover,” Trump stated. “Properly, no one desires concessions, however they’re each going to should make some concessions. I imply, you bought to make a deal.”
