Trump administration proposes UAE-hosted Ukraine-Russia-US talks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that President Donald Trump told him during their meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York that he had made a “final decision” to allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot missiles, reversing a position Trump had walked back earlier in the summer.
“There are concrete agreements in place,” Zelensky told reporters. “During our last meeting, President Trump emphasized that, yes, I have made the final decision: Ukraine will receive a license to manufacture Patriot missiles.”
The reported license marks a reversal for Trump. In July at the NATO Summit in Turkey, Trump had initially suggested he might allow Ukraine to license the Patriot missiles. Weeks later, he walked that back, saying he had to be careful about who received the technology.
Trump and Zelensky met earlier this week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. At the UN, Zelensky called Russian President Vladimir Putin “patient zero,” and said that the more freedom Putin has to act, “the more dangerous the world becomes for everyone else.”
Zelensky also said Friday that the Trump administration had proposed organizing three-way talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States. He said no date had been set and that Washington had suggested holding the meeting in the United Arab Emirates.
“Regarding the trilateral meeting, the U.S. side proposed organizing it,” Zelensky said. “We will brief the European side and discuss these details with them, the Americans will talk to the Russians, and in 10 days’ time we will return with a particular perspective and a result.”
Russia has said trilateral talks could happen soon but has not yet committed to a specific meeting.
The same day Zelensky announced the reported Patriot license, Russia attacked Kyiv during the daytime on Friday, killing five civilians and a teenager and injuring 27 people, according to CNN. Ukraine separately said it had hit two Russian oil refineries in the past 24 hours, while Russian officials said two people were killed in Ukrainian drone attacks overnight, France 24 reported.
Ukraine has reported an acute shortage of Patriot interceptors since the United States went to war with Iran. Preparing to manufacture the missiles could take at least a year.
Zelensky said Ukraine is also working on its own anti-ballistic systems, called Freya, France 24 reported. The timeline and capabilities of the Freya program were not detailed in his remarks.