Trump explains why he has doubts about allowing Ukraine to produce Patriot air defence missiles

US President Donald Trump has said that the United States has to be "very careful" regarding the possibility of allowing Ukraine to produce interceptor missiles for Patriot air defence systems.

Source: Trump during a public Cabinet meeting, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Trump reiterated that he has not yet made a final decision on whether to grant Ukraine licences to produce missiles for Patriot systems.

He argued that the US has "the greatest weaponry in the world", so it has to be judicious when it comes to granting other countries permission to manufacture them.

"In the case of President Zelenskyy, he would like to have some Patriots. He would like to have some Tomahawks, which are lethal – one offensive, one defensive," the US president said, before going on to describe the power of these weapons.

"Nobody's ever seen anything like it. You have to be very judicious, but you have to be very careful. Now we have not agreed to that. We're talking about it. But it's a hard thing to give away that kind of technology. And I don't think this would ever happen," Trump added.

The US president then raised the possibility that countries granted licences by the US to produce its weapons could later turn against Washington.

Quote: "These people that you give that technology, they can someday turn on you. You know, that is possible. If you look at war, it's happened a couple of times over the years, right? So we have to be very careful."

Background:

• In early July, Trump told Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO summit that the US would give Ukraine the right to manufacture Patriot systems.
• Trump's comments expressing uncertainty over granting the licences come just two days after he met Zelenskyy in Washington. During the meeting, Zelenskyy asked Trump for an emergency package of Patriot interceptors.
• Zelenskyy also said that during the White House meeting, the two leaders discussed licences to manufacture Patriot interceptors and "some other ideas that could help".

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