Ukraine to accept US air defense systems, says Trump

US President Donald Trump has said he will send weapons, including Patriot’s air defense systems for Ukraine through NATO.

Trump told the NBC News that in a new deal, “we will send Patriots to NATO, and then NATO will spread it,” adding that NATO will pay for the weapons.

His message came after Ukraine President Volodimir Zelenski said that he had a “positive dialogue” with Trump to ensure that weapons had arrived on time, especially the air defense systems.

Zelenski said he had requested 10 patriotic systems after leaping Russian drones and rocket attacks against Ukrainian cities last week.

Spotting in Rome on Thursday, the Ukrainian leader said Germany was ready to pay for two of the Patriots and Norway for one, while other European partners were also ready to help.

After a phone call with Russian Vladimir Putin last week, Trump said he was not “happy” that progress had not been made to end the war, and since then he complained that Putin’s “very good” attitude turned out to be pointless.

During his interview with NBC News, Trump said he would make a “main statement” about Russia on Monday, but did not say what it was about.

He said “NATO will restore the full price” for weapons sent to Ukraine. NATO is funded through the contributions of their membersincluding the US.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Friday that he had called on countries, including Germany and Spain, to hand over some of their existing patriots batteries as they could reach Ukraine faster.

“We have continued to encourage our NATO allies to provide these weapons … As they have them in their shares, then we can conclude financial agreements … where they can buy replacements.”

The US Department of Defense stopped some supplies of critical weapons last week, provoking fears in Kiev that its air protection could decrease in a few months.

Among the weapons that have been reported to have been paused are the Patriot Interceptor missiles and the precision artillery shells.

Then, as Ukraine was poured by record number of drones this week, Trump said more weapons would be sent: “We must … they are now hitting very hard.”

Zelenski had called on shipments to resume, describing the patriot systems as “true defenders of life.”

On Tuesday night, Ukraine was hit by a record 728 drones, and the Ukrainian president warned that Russia wanted to increase this to 1000.

June has seen the highest monthly civilian civilian casualties in Ukraine for three years, with 232 people killed and over 1300 injured, according to the UN.

Patriot anti -air defense batteries and intercepting rockets that shoot, play a critical role in the protection of Ukrainian cities, civil and military infrastructure, from Russian cruise and ballistic missile attacks.

Along with Soviet-era missiles S-300 and western Nasam (national advanced surface-to-air missile system), the patriots help Ukraine maintain what the military is often called “layered protection”.

With its sophisticated radar and tracking and high degree of interception, Patriot is considered one of the best air defense systems in the world.

Without it, Ukraine would fight to protect itself from Moscow’s relentless bombing.

But it is also expensive, with one battery, including missiles worth about 1 billion (£ 740 million). This helps to explain why the Western countries that operate patriotic systems are reluctant to part with them.

Ukrainian troops already know how to use them.

The first two saved batteries arrived in April 2023, after months of request from Kiev. The exact number of systems that are currently used is a closely kept secret.

But each additional battery allows Ukraine to put more cities and key facilities, including military bases and power plants, under the system’s protective umbrella.

Ukraine is a huge country. He will never be able to protect everything – or everyone. But with the increase in Russian air attacks in the frequency and size, the Western allies of Kiev seem to recognize the urgency of need.

After re -entering the White House in January, Trump insisted on large -scale US support for Ukraine.

The United States was the largest source of military aid for Ukraine between the beginning of 2022 and the late 2024, giving $ 69 billion (£ 54.6 billion) during this period of time, According to the German cerebral Trust, the Institute Kiel.

Trump also pressed NATO allies to bet more than their GDP on the Alliance for Security. Last year, all European NATO members promised to spend 2% of GDP on defense.

Russia began a full -scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The United States called on the two countries to reach an agreement to end war.

Rubio told reporters that he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had a “frank” conversation on the sidelines at a meeting in Malaysia on Thursday.

Rubio sounded “Trump’s dissatisfaction with lack of progress in peace talks”, including “disappointment that there was no greater flexibility in the Russian side to end this conflict.”

He said the two have shared some new ideas on how the conflict can end, which he will take back to Trump.

Rubio declined to develop what Trump said would be a “big” message about Russia on Monday.