President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that the United States will send Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine in response to the ongoing Russian invasion, as tensions between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin continue to escalate.
“We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need,” Trump said, without disclosing the number, just two weeks after Washington announced a temporary halt in certain arms shipments to Kyiv.
“I haven’t agreed on the number yet, but they’re going to have some because they do need protection,” he told reporters.
This weapons transfer is expected to be part of a broader agreement in which NATO will reimburse the United States for some of the military aid it supplies to Ukraine.
“We basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated military and they’re going to pay us 100 percent for them,” Trump said.
The U.S. president again expressed disappointment in Putin.
Upon returning to the White House in January, Trump had said he believed he could negotiate with the Russian leader to bring an end to the conflict, but became increasingly frustrated as missile strikes continued without any signs of a ceasefire.
“Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening,” Trump stated.
U.S. special envoy Keith Kellogg is expected to begin his latest trip to Ukraine on Monday.
Trump also mentioned he would meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday, a day he had earlier chosen to deliver a “major statement… on Russia.”
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