President Donald Trump left open the potential to send Ukraine more Patriot defense systems after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO summit Wednesday.
Zelenskyy has consistently called for more air defense support and pressure on Russia. The meeting came as Russia continued its attacks on Ukraine this week as the allied leaders descended on The Hague.
“We're going to see if we can make some available,” Trump said of Patriots, a U.S.-made air defense system. “They're very hard to get. We need them to — we were supplying them to Israel, and they're very effective, 100% effective. Hard to believe how effective. and they do want that more than any other thing.”
Trump said he and Zelenskyy did not discuss a ceasefire, which Russia has yet to agree to despite Ukraine’s willingness. However, according to a readout of the meeting from the Ukrainian president’s office, Zelenskyy discussed air defense, joint production of weapons and efforts to negotiate a ceasefire between the two countries.
“The Ukrainian leader stressed that Ukraine supports the U.S. position on a ceasefire, but Russia is taking no steps in this direction and continues its aggression,” the readout states.
“I took from the meeting that he'd like to see it end. I think it's a great time to end it. I'm going to speak to Vladimir Putin see if we can get it ended,” Trump said, adding that “Putin really has to end that war.”
Trump, who has decried the amount of money the U.S. provided to Ukraine for its defense, said Zelenskyy “couldn’t have been nicer,” while calling Russian President Vladimir Putin “misguided.” That's a notable shift after Trump took a more critical tone towards Zelenskyy early on in his second term.
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The Hague Summit Declaration out of the meetings acknowledged the “long- term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security,” reaffirmed allies' “enduring sovereign commitments to provide support to Ukraine,” and allowed contributions to Ukraine to be factored into their defense spending as the alliance increases the target to 5% of a country’s GDP.
However, it did not pledge long term security assistance, call out Russian aggression or offer a path for Ukraine’s NATO membership, as the previous year’s language did.
The summit is viewed as successful by Ukrainians, and the meeting between leaders is seen as a positive, according to a source familiar with Urkainian thinking.
