KYIV, Ukraine — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was weighing sending additional Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine amid intensifying Russian attacks. But it was not immediately clear whether Trump was considering donating the Patriots to Ukraine — as his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, and several European allies have done — or selling them to Kyiv.
“We’re going to see if we can make some available,” Trump said during a news conference at the NATO summit in The Hague, where he held a nearly hourlong meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. But Trump cautioned that the systems, which Zelenskyy proposed buying directly in April, were “very hard to get” and in limited supply, especially with the United States already providing some to Israel.
Zelenskyy said in a statement that his meeting with Trump had been “meaningful” and that the pair had discussed the ceasefire negotiations with Russia, which have yielded little result so far. But neither he nor the White House offered details about whether the meeting would lead to additional U.S. support.
Zelenskyy has a complicated relationship with Trump, marked by meetings that have at times been tense and fraught, and at other times more substantive.
His visit to the White House in February, where he was supposed to sign a landmark bilateral minerals deal, quickly unraveled as the two leaders publicly argued in the Oval Office.
It took two more months for them to sit down together again, on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral in late April. That meeting helped defuse tensions between Kyiv and Washington and finalize the minerals deal.
They were scheduled to meet again last week at the Group of 7 summit in Canada. But Trump ultimately skipped the meeting, citing a need to return to Washington to handle the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. The United States subsequently carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, and Israel and Iran soon after reached a ceasefire mediated by the United States.
The canceled G7 meeting and Trump’s comments about the limited supply of Patriots encapsulated the difficult position Ukraine faces as the Trump administration shifts its attention to the Middle East, which could leave Kyiv without the diplomatic leverage and military support it needs to end the war.
Zelenskyy attended the NATO summit aiming to keep Ukraine at the top of his allies’ agenda. But at a closing news conference Wednesday, Trump devoted significantly more time to commenting on U.S. strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities than on the war in Ukraine.
Apart from the announcement about potential Patriot deliveries, Trump only repeated his desire to see the war end. He also acknowledged it was “possible” that President Vladimir Putin of Russia harbors territorial ambitions beyond Ukraine, though he provided no further details.
Trump’s comment on the Patriots could pave the way for Ukraine to purchase more air defense systems, which it desperately needs to defend itself against escalating Russian air assaults that are killing many civilians.
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