Kyiv will not get Patriot license this year, U.S. official says
Matthew Whitaker (Photo: REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado)
A long-term license
allowing Ukraine to produce interceptor missiles for Patriot air-defense system
will not be granted by this winter, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker
said on Aug. 3.
Transferring a license to manufacture Patriot missiles is "a long and complicated process," and attention should be focused on urgent needs through the coming winter, Whitaker told Fox Business.
The Fox anchor noted President Donald Trump had said the United States was only "considering" such a license and asked what had changed. Whitaker said "nothing" had changed but added that export controls on such technology are "very tightly controlled." He suggested joint production with Ukraine or European partners as a possible solution.
Whitaker said those options were discussed at meetings during the NATO summit in Ankara and during his visit to Kyiv two weeks earlier.
"A long-term license will not help Ukraine this winter," he said, adding that instead allies should provide additional air-defense resources before winter, either by asking partners who "have spare missiles" to share them or by increasing production in the United States.
On July 28, after meeting with Trump, Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the two leaders had discussed a license to
produce interceptor missiles for the Patriot system. On July 30, Trump
told the Financial Times he was "not sure" about transferring such a
license to Ukraine. On July 31, speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Trump
said Washington "must be very careful" about transferring
missile-production technology to Ukraine.
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