Ukraine allowed to manufacture Patriot defense system, Trump says

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States will give Ukraine a production license to build its own Patriot missile interceptors for defense. Trump made the remarks while speaking alongside Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a NATO summit in Turkey. Trump said the U.S. companies behind the Patriot defense system, Lockheed Martin and RTX Corporation, had not yet been informed of this.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly insisted that Ukraine needed to be able to produce Patriots to meet a growing demand for protection against Russian ballistic missiles. Ukraine’s defense minister said Tuesday that Russia has increasingly used missiles to target civilian areas and residential buildings.

The United States and many U.S. allies have used the Patriot system to detect, track, and intercept various missiles. Patriots were first manufactured outside of the United States in Germany after a new manufacturing facility broke ground in 2024.

What’s the latest in the war between Ukraine and Russia? Overnight strikes from Russia killed two civilians in Kyiv and two others in Kharkiv, according to local officials. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it targeted the Ukrainian army’s logistics centers and transport infrastructure, according to the state-run TASS Russian news agency.

Additionally, on Wednesday, Ukraine issued long-range strikes on oil refineries in Russia’s Saratov and Tatarstan regions, according to Zelenskyy. The military hit refineries more than 900 miles away, he said.

Dig deeper: Read Harrison Watters’ report on Russia’s potential to resume participation in the Olympic Games.