Trump responds to Zelenskyy's request for more air defense missiles
US President Donald Trump (photo: Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump responded to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's call to provide Ukraine with long-range missiles or additional Patriot systems, blaming the previous administration for the ammunition shortage, according to remarks made during Trump's press conference.
Journalists asked the president whether he was prepared to provide Ukraine with the requested long-range missiles or additional Patriot batteries.
"Well, I mean, we want missiles, too. You know, when Biden gave him so much, Biden gave $300 billion worth of ammunition. You know, when I left this, it was full, and he gave a lot of it away. Now we're rebuilding it, and we're using munitions that are very powerful, very good, but we wouldn't have been using them. We could have used something else," Trump replied.
Asked about the increase in Russian attacks on civilians, the president gave an indirect answer, saying that the United States is not directly involved in the conflict because it is separated from it by an ocean. According to him, it pains him to see the losses on both sides.
On July 8, Zelenskyy met with Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit, after which the US president said that Washington could allow Ukraine to establish its own production of Patriot interceptor missiles.
Later, on July 28, the two sides raised the issue again during talks. In addition to localizing interceptor missile production, they also discussed advancing the peace process.
However, on July 31, Trump said that the United States had not granted Ukraine a license to produce Patriot interceptor missiles, and that this might not happen in the future. According to him, the United States must be "very careful" about sharing the secrets of these weapons.
