The Financial Times: Trump Refuses to Supply Ukraine with Patriot Air Defense Missiles
On August 5, according to sources familiar with the negotiations cited by the Financial Times, U.S. President Trump declined Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's request for hundreds of additional Patriot air defense missiles during a meeting in the White House's Oval Office. Trump's rationale was a shortage of U.S. missile inventory; ongoing conflicts in the Middle East mean that U.S. overseas military bases also urgently need these missiles for their own defense.
The report highlights that a large-scale Russian air strike early on August 5 fully exposed Kyiv’s increasingly vulnerable air defenses. With winter approaching, major Ukrainian cities are nearly defenseless against Russian missile attacks.
In addition to refusing physical delivery of the missiles, the United States has shown ambivalence toward transferring Patriot missile production technology. During the NATO summit in Turkey, Trump had previously promised Zelenskyy that Ukraine could manufacture the missiles domestically, but later statements significantly tightened this stance. Speaking earlier to the Financial Times, Trump said, “We’re still evaluating this matter. This is an extremely powerful weapon, and allowing foreign production must be handled with extreme caution—practically speaking, we rarely issue production licenses for such equipment abroad.”
At around 3 a.m. on August 5, Russia launched a ballistic missile attack, firing nearly 30 ballistic missiles, none of which were intercepted by Ukrainian air forces. Zelenskyy reported that the assault resulted in 17 deaths and 44 injuries. He stated outright that these casualties could have been avoided if Ukraine had sufficient Patriot missile stockpiles.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1872686432727176/
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