KYIV/WASHINGTON: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held talks with a U.S. envoy on Monday on increasing weapons production and arms purchases after President Donald Trump said he would send Patriot air defence missiles to Kyiv.
In a sharp departure from his earlier stance, Trump is also expected to announce a new plan to arm Ukraine with offensive weapons, American news website Axios cited two sources familiar with the matter as saying.
Trump’s moves underline his growing disenchantment with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the lack of progress in U.S.-led efforts to secure a ceasefire in Russia’s more than three-year-old war in Ukraine.
Zelenskiy, who has been seeking air defence systems to fend off Russian airstrikes, said he had discussed “the path to peace and what we can practically do together to bring it closer” at talks with Trump’s special envoy on Ukraine, Keith Kellogg.
“This includes strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe,“ Zelenskiy wrote on X after their talks in Kyiv.
Separately, Zelenskiy said he had asked First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko to take over from Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, part of what he called “a transformation of the executive branch” of government in Ukraine. Her appointment will require parliamentary approval.
Zelenskiy and Svyrydenko discussed “concrete measures to boost Ukraine’s economic potential, expand support programs for Ukrainians and scale up our domestic weapons production”.
Svyrydenko, 39, is an economist by background and has previously served as minister of economic development and trade, and as deputy head of Zelenskiy’s office. She played a key role in negotiations between Kyiv and Washington on a minerals deal.
Ukraine’s economy has been hit hard by the war, leaving it heavily dependent on Western financial assistance.
TRUMP’S DISENCHANTMENT
Trump has increasingly criticised Putin as his frustration mounts over the failure to end a war which he once said he could end in a day. An air-raid alert was declared in Kyiv shortly after Zelenskiy’s talks with Kellogg took place.
“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,“ Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington on Sunday.
“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,“ Trump said.
Trump did not say how many Patriots he plans to send to Ukraine, but he said the United States would be reimbursed for their cost by the European Union.
The U.S. president is due to meet NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte this week to discuss Ukraine among other issues, and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius is set to visit Washington for talks with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Berlin has offered to pay for Patriot systems for Ukraine, under a proposal made public by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and has emerged as an important player as European states in NATO move to build up their military strength under U.S. pressure.
A German government official said Berlin was “cautiously optimistic” before Trump’s expected statement on Ukraine, with the expectation being that the U.S. and European countries would cooperate on getting further air defence systems to Ukraine.
The possibility of Germany sending to Ukraine Patriot missile systems from its own stocks and buying replacements from the U.S. is among the possible options, the officials added.
Russia, which began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, holds about one-fifth of Ukraine. Its forces are slowly advancing in eastern Ukraine and Moscow shows no sign of abandoning its main war goals.
Putin told Trump by phone on July 3 that Moscow wants a negotiated end to the war but will not step back from its original goals, a Kremlin aide said.
A year ago, Putin was ready to halt the war with a negotiated ceasefire recognising existing battlefield lines, Reuters reported at the time. But at talks last month, Russia set out punitive terms for peace, demanding Kyiv give up big new chunks of territory and accept limits on the size of its army. – Reuters
