Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, July 28, 2026. Zelenskyy said he and Trump discussed licenses for Ukraine to produce Patriot interceptors domestically, part of a broader push to bolster the country's air defenses against Russia. (Volodymyr Zelenskyy/X)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emerged from a day of meetings in Washington indicating momentum on a possible deal that would enable his country to start building American-designed air defense systems.
Zelenskyy met Tuesday with President Donald Trump at the White House and also spoke with U.S. defense industry leaders about ways to bolster cooperation.
“The president and I discussed licenses for Patriot interceptor production and several other ideas that could help,” Zelenskyy said. “We also spoke about diplomacy. It’s important that the diplomatic process be reinvigorated.”
During a NATO summit earlier this month, Trump said he was willing to grant licenses to Kyiv so it could produce Patriot interceptors domestically.
Such a move would give a major boost to Ukraine, which has been effective at developing counter-drone technology but lacks sufficient defenses against Russia’s ballistic missile threat.
Trump said it was a “great honor” to meet with the Ukrainian leader and that the discussions went “very well.”
The meeting marks a significant turnaround for Zelenskyy, whose relationship with the Trump White House has been rocky.
The tensions spilled into public view during a February 2025 Oval Office meeting, when both Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly berated Zelenskyy and accused him of being ungrateful for U.S. support.
But in recent months, Ukraine has seen its position improve both in Washington and on the battlefield as it makes incremental gains while striking deep inside Russia with its vast arsenal of drones.
Still, Ukraine has not returned to the position it occupied during the early years of the war, when the U.S. provided billions of dollars in assistance.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has dramatically bolstered its own defense industrial base and is moving to capitalize on its advances in drone warfare.
After meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy met Tuesday with Lockheed Martin executives to discuss joint manufacturing and technology exchanges.
Teams were already working on “specific solutions to move to co-production as quickly as possible,” Zelenskyy’s office said in a statement Tuesday.
The Russia-Ukraine war and its lessons have been a focal point for the U.S. military since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
STARS AND STRIPES VIDEOS
AROUND THE WEB
STRIPES TOP NEWS
