The Ukrainian leader asked for the US to provide Kiev 20 more Patriot air defense systems, as well as missiles for them
Kiev’s forces are running out of missiles for their US-supplied Patriot air defense systems, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has said.
Zelensky revealed the predicament in a press conference in Kiev on Wednesday, a week after the administration of US President Donald Trump demanded Kiev repays the hundreds of billions in rendered US aid with Ukrainian mineral wealth, as well as moving to de-escalate the conflict. Trump froze US aid to Ukraine pending review soon after his inauguration last month.
Zelensky said he has sought a license for Ukraine to produce its own Patriots if direct supplies were not feasible, and complained of ammunition shortages. Ukrainian officers have reached out to warn that their air defense missile stocks are depleted, Zelensky said.
“Three, four, five in the morning, the chief commander calls me and says, we don’t have missiles for Patriots. And says that there are eight missiles in the sky. But we don’t have missiles,” he claimed.
Zelensky went on to ask for 20 more Patriot air defense batteries, specifying that US service members would not be required to operate them, as Washington has shown reluctance to deploying troops into Ukraine.
When asked about his refusal to sign a deal that would grant Washington access to Ukraine’s mineral resources, Zelensky replied that the document US representatives presented had “no word about security guarantees.” The document was “clear only in one thing. We have to give 50%,” Zelensky said.
White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes told AP that the Ukrainian leader was being shortsighted in refusing the “opportunity” the Trump administration was proffering.
The presented deal was outright “colonial,” AP wrote, citing a former senior Ukrainian official.
Last week, Trump said he demanded “the equivalent like $500B worth of rare earths,” in return for “more than $300 billion” the US provided Ukraine.
Speaking to the press after the completion of the Russia-US bilateral talks in Riyadh, Trump said he was “disappointed” about the conflict not being settled diplomatically in three years. When pressed, the US president said Ukrainians are in no position to complain about not being invited to the negotiating table.
“Today I heard, ‘We weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years, you should’ve ended it,” he said.
The Riyadh talks concluded with both US and Russian officials agreeing to continue efforts toward ending the war and restoring diplomatic relations.
