US in talks with Ukraine on licenses to produce Patriot missiles

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the United States is in talks with Ukraine on granting licenses to produce missiles for Patriot systems, according to Європейська правда.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this on The Brian Kilmeade Show on Wednesday, September 2.

Rubio said that having a production license will not solve Ukraine's immediate needs, because, according to him, even after obtaining a license, deploying production of such complex weapons and building the relevant plants could take years.

"This issue is currently under discussion. And, as I said, it is not an immediate solution. After all, ramping up production, even with a license, is a process that requires several years to build the relevant plants. After all, we are talking about an extremely complex weapon. So it is currently being discussed. It may produce results, but it really won't solve the short-term problem they are pointing to", the US Secretary of State added.

It is worth noting that on July 31, US President Donald Trump, commenting on the possibility of granting Ukraine permission to produce interceptor missiles for Patriot systems, said that the US "should be very careful" in this matter.

Also, according to FT, US President Trump denied Volodymyr Zelenskyy his request for hundreds of additional interceptor missiles for Patriot, citing the US's own needs in the Middle East.