Zelensky: Trump Gives Ukraine Green Light for Patriot Production

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said US President Donald Trump had made a final decision to grant Ukraine licenses to produce Patriot air defense missiles, according to remarks by Zelensky to journalists following their latest meeting in New York.

"There are specific agreements in place. At our latest meeting, President Trump stressed to me: 'Yes, I have made the final decision: Ukraine will receive licences to produce Patriot missiles,'" Zelensky said.

Zelensky had previously said that Ukraine had reached an agreement on a package of missiles for Patriot air defense systems. After their meeting, he also said Trump supported granting Ukraine licenses to manufacture the missiles.

The US State Department later said Washington had not yet reached a final decision on whether to grant Ukraine the licenses.

Kyiv has been seeking permission to produce Patriot interceptors domestically, saying the missiles are crucial for defending against Russian ballistic missile attacks.

During his latest visit to the United States this week, Zelensky renewed his calls for additional air defense assistance and for Patriot missiles, which he said remain the only system reliably capable of intercepting Russia's powerful ballistic missiles.

In July, Trump said it would be "pretty cool" to allow Ukraine to manufacture the missiles, but later said the United States needed to be "very careful" before authorizing production.

On July 31, Trump also said the United States "has to be very careful" about allowing Ukraine to produce Patriot interceptors.

Ukraine has reported an acute shortage of Patriot interceptors since the United States and Israel went to war with Iran in February, which diverted supplies of the advanced systems.

Even if the licenses are approved, building the necessary industrial capacity would take more than a year and would not address Kyiv's immediate needs.

As Ukraine prepares for winter, Kyiv has again called for urgent support.

Zelensky said last month that Ukraine needs 5% of the United States' Patriot interceptor missiles to get through the winter and 10% to destroy all of Russia's ballistic projectiles.

Russia has also been targeting Kyiv with newly developed jet-powered drones that have managed to evade some of Ukraine's drone interception systems.

While attacks on the capital previously took place mainly at night, Moscow now frequently strikes during daylight hours.

A drone hit a residential building in Kyiv on Friday morning as people were heading to work, killing a 14-year-old boy.

Zelensky condemned the strike, describing it as "an absolutely savage and sickening strike, devoid of any military logic."

AFP journalists at the scene saw residents gathered around a multi-story building, where apartments on the ninth and 10th floors had been charred by the attack.

Mykyta Sysoyev, a 23-year-old IT specialist, said an explosion woke him and that he realized his own building had been hit only after checking the news.

"My jaw dropped a bit," he said. "It's strange: on the one hand, I've got used to it, but on the other, people are constantly dying."

Asked about the increase in drone attacks, Sysoyev said, "This is a technological race and a technological war...Unfortunately, people will suffer while we're searching for solutions."

In the southern Odesa region, authorities said another person was killed when a postal facility was hit in a repeated strike.