Trump considers more Patriots for Ukraine, says Putin "has to end" the war
THE HAGUE: US President Donald Trump indicated on Wednesday (Jun 25) he will consider providing more of the Patriot missiles that Ukraine needs to defend against mounting Russian strikes, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin "really has to end that war".
His remarks came after a 50-minute meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of a NATO summit in The Hague. Both leaders described it as a positive step in a conflict that Trump described as "more difficult than other wars".
During a press conference in which he celebrated his own diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, Trump said the Patriots were "very hard to get" but that "we are going to see if we can make some of them available".
Zelenskiy mentioned air-defence systems but it was not immediately clear whether Trump was referring to more missiles or complete batteries.
Trump also left open the possibility of providing more military aid to Kyiv, which has suffered grinding Russian advances on the battlefield in recent months.
He had previously shown no sign of resuming the donations of weaponry to Ukraine that his predecessor Joe Biden had instituted after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Asked directly whether the US would contribute more funding to Ukraine's defence this year, Trump said: "As far as money going, we'll see what happens."
The US-made Patriot batteries are critical to shooting down the Russian ballistic missiles that have increasingly rained on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks.
Dozens of people have been killed over the past week on the capital Kyiv and the southeastern regional capital of Dnipro.
Zelenskiy said before Wednesday's meeting that Ukraine was willing to buy more Patriots if the U.S. was unwilling to donate them. He said the talks with Trump were "long and substantive".
"Ukraine is ready to buy this equipment and support American weapons manufacturers," Zelenskiy wrote on X. "We also discussed the potential for co-production of drones. We can strengthen each other."
Trump added that he would soon speak once more with Putin, adding: "Look, Vladimir Putin really has to end that war."
MORE FORMAL LOOK FOR ZELENSKYY
Zelenskyy wore a dark, suit-style jacket to the meeting, in contrast to the more informal military-style garb he was criticised for wearing at a disastrous White House meeting with Trump in February.
He has since worked to rebuild relations with the Trump administration, whose overtures to Russia have concerned Kyiv.
However, he had to settle for attending the pre-summit dinner on Tuesday evening rather than the main meeting on Wednesday, which backed the big NATO-wide increase in defence spending that Trump had demanded.
Unlike last year, this year's summit declaration contained no mention of future NATO membership for Ukraine.
While the statement denounced what it called the long-term threat posed by Russia to European and Atlantic security, it did not directly blame Russia for the invasion, as previous declarations have.
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