5 questions about the latest Russia-Ukraine attacks and Trump’s Patriot deal

1. What happened in Ukraine on Wednesday?

Russian drones and missiles killed four people across Ukraine in attacks before dawn and at midday. Kyiv was hit twice, hours apart, killing two people and injuring eight; Kharkiv suffered overnight strikes that killed two people and injured 20 others; and Zaporizhzhia saw a guided bomb injure two people the night before.

2. What did U.S. President Trump announce about Patriot air defense systems?

Meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey, Trump said the U.S. would license Ukraine to manufacture its own Patriot air defense systems, saying “We’ll show them how to do it” and that Ukraine could likely produce them “pretty quickly.” Zelenskyy has long sought both more Patriot systems and the ability to produce them domestically, as they are expensive, in high demand, and slow to build.

3. Who is involved in the story’s key events?

The main figures are Zelenskyy and Trump, who met in Ankara, Turkey, alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin, who Trump was expected to call afterward. Local officials also played key roles in reporting attack details, including Kyiv administration head Tymur Tkachenko, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

4. What comes next for U.S.-Ukraine cooperation?

Trump said a deal to end the war seemed to be “on the horizon” and that the U.S. would work on a security package for Ukraine. Zelenskyy said air defense remains the priority, that Ukraine wants to detail its needs under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) — through which European allies and Canada buy American weapons for Ukraine — and that U.S. and Ukrainian officials have begun early work on a separate drone deal.

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5. How is Ukraine striking back at Russia, and what’s the impact?

Ukraine struck oil refineries in Russia’s Saratov and Tatarstan regions, along with facilities in Bashkortostan and Voronezh, worsening fuel shortages already straining Russia. Ukrainian drones also hit a Gazprom compressor station tied to a gas pipeline to Turkey and damaged two oil tankers in Taganrog Bay, while Russia said its air defenses downed 415 Ukrainian drones over the same period.

For more on this report, read “Russian attacks kill four across Ukraine, striking Kyiv for second straight day” from The Associated Press, published on The Washington Times.

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