US weighs sharing Patriot technology with Ukraine as talks continue

What Turner said about talks

The congressman was asked whether the United States would allow Ukraine to license production of Patriot interceptors, as earlier reports suggested there had been a breakthrough, but Donald Trump said on Friday that transferring such technology would be difficult.

Turner explained that in that statement, the president was referring to both Tomahawk missiles and Patriot systems, and that negotiations are still ongoing.

He said the situation with Patriot is more complicated because it is a defensive weapon, whereas the Tomahawks mentioned are offensive.

"I do think that there are ongoing negotiations concerning providing a broader opportunity for Ukraine to have access to Patriot technology, to be able to have production and defensive technology. This is going to be very important both for allies and for Ukraine," the congressman said.

Turner said defensive technologies should be shared in the same way missile technologies are shared. He emphasized that the United States possesses the world's most advanced technologies, which are in high demand globally.

The congressman called the president's initiative to consider licensing the technology important for Ukraine, allies, and the United States itself.

Turner urged the president and the Pentagon to move as quickly as possible so Ukraine can defend itself. He stressed that people are being killed in Ukraine every night because Russia launches missiles at defenseless civilians rather than military targets.

As previously reported, during his meeting with Zelenskyy in Washington in late July, Trump said he was ready to allow Ukraine to produce Patriot interceptor missiles under license.

However, just days later, during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David, Trump said no final agreement had been reached and that the United States must be very careful about giving away the secret of the weapon system.