President Donald Trump held separate meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington; the White House said both talks were “positive and productive".
The meetings took place while both foreign leaders were in the U.S. for the funeral of Senator Lindsey Graham, a long-time supporter of military aid to Ukraine and a strong supporter of Israel. Graham died earlier this month.
During their meeting, Zelensky told Trump that Ukraine urgently needed to bolster its air defences as Russia continues to launch drone and missile attacks across the country.
Zelensky said Trump also agreed to provide Ukraine licences to allow domestic production of Patriot interceptor missiles with U.S. defence companies. The White House had not publicly confirmed the deal as of the time of publication. “He accepted that he will give us licences," Zelensky said, adding that he also met with representatives from large U.S. defence manufacturers to discuss potential joint production.
Ukraine has repeatedly asked for more Patriot systems, one of the few air defence systems capable of shooting down ballistic missiles. Kyiv has said that expanding access to the system is essential as Russia ramps up attacks on cities and civilian infrastructure.
The Patriot interceptor missile costs between $3 million and $5 million each, making it one of the most expensive air defence munitions in use. Ukrainian authorities have said previously that the country needs about 25 Patriot systems to provide better coverage.
Zelensky also met with a bipartisan group of US lawmakers before meeting with Trump. Later, the U.S. Senate passed legislation with broad support to target buyers of Russian oil and gas, a move Zelensky called “a strong signal of support for Ukraine and its allies".
There are questions about whether it would be realistic to even set up Patriot missile production inside Ukraine, given the Russian attacks and the security challenges of operating sensitive defence manufacturing facilities in wartime.
Later the same day Netanyahu met Trump at the White House as relations between the US and Israel remain strained over differing approaches to Iran and regional security.
After the meeting, Trump posted on Truth Social that it was “a very good meeting".
“I and the president of the United States share the goal of making sure Iran does not get nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu told Israeli media. “It was one of the best conversations I have had with the president of the United States.”
The Israeli prime minister also posted a photo from the Oval Office of the two leaders during their meeting.
After the talks, the U.S. military said Iranian forces tried to launch a missile attack on U.S. forces in the Middle East but that all incoming missiles were shot down.
In a separate development, the U.S. military said U.S. and Saudi forces carried out operations against Iran-backed groups in eastern Iraq after alleged drone attacks on Saudi energy facilities. Iranian authorities did not respond to the claims by the time of publication.
