Zelenskyy, Trump advance Patriot missile production deal
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- Zelenskyy met Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday, calling it a "good meeting" — the latest signal of thawing relations after the disastrous February 2025 session in which Trump and VP JD Vance publicly berated him.
- Patriot missile production topped the agenda: Trump agreed earlier this month to licences letting Ukraine co-produce the interceptors, a core element of Kyiv's defence against Russian aerial attacks.
- Joint drone production is also advancing — Ukraine is on track to produce 6-7 million short-range attack drones this year, while the Pentagon's $1.1bn program is expected to have ordered nearly 200,000 drones by February 2027.
- Diplomatic efforts to end the more-than-four-year war were also on the table, though the source notes such efforts have "slowed in recent weeks" as Washington pivots toward other foreign policy priorities.
- Zelenskyy is using the US visit to attend Senator Lindsey Graham's funeral, meet Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and sit down with a bipartisan group of senators ahead of the first Senate vote on the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctions Act on Russia and Iran.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was at the White House the same day for separate talks with Trump, per press secretary Karoline Leavitt — a thread other outlets' headlines lean heavily on, while this source foregrounds the Ukraine deliverables.
- US military assistance to Ukraine has been "sharply curtailed" by the Trump administration, leaving Europe as Kyiv's main financial and military backer even as co-production deals expand.
Why it matters: The Patriot co-production licence shifts a key air-defence capability onto Ukrainian soil at a moment when direct US military aid is shrinking and Europe is filling the gap. The drone numbers tell a parallel story: Ukraine's 6-7 million short-range attack drones this year dwarf the Pentagon's targeted ~200,000 by February 2027, making the partnership a two-way street on battlefield-tested tech.
