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The US will send Patriot missile systems to Ukraine, President Trump said on Sunday, claiming they are necessary because Russia’s President Vladimir Putin “talks nice but then he bombs everybody in the evening.”
Trump did not say how many Patriot systems would be sent to Ukraine, but he suggested the cost would be reimbursed by the European Union.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been insistent his country needs more defensive weapons to hold off intensifying Russian missile and drone attacks.
“We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need, because Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then bombs everybody in the evening. But there’s a little bit of a problem there. I don’t like it,” Trump told reporters.
“We basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated military equipment. They are going to pay us 100% for that, and that’s the way we want it.”
Sources who spoke to Axios said Trump will announce a new plan to arm Ukraine in the coming days as he grows increasingly frustrated with Russia over its unwillingness to end the war. During the campaign, President Trump vowed to end the war within 24 hours of returning to the White House.
Trump will meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte this week to discuss Ukraine, as well as other issues facing the transatlantic alliance.
