Back in April, the Alabama Manufacturing Madness competition named Boeing’s PAC-3 Patriot missile “seeker system” the winner of the “Coolest Thing Made in Alabama” contest. It’s possible someone in the White House heard about it. Donald Trump says he’s working on a plan to send Patriot Missiles, possibly purchased by NATO countries, to Ukraine to fend off missile attacks from Russia. This could mean extra business for Boeing in Huntsville. The company builds the PAC-3 as a subcontractor to the Patriot's builder, Lockheed-Martin.
Currently embroiled with MAGA blowback from the administration’s admission that there is no client list from Jeffrey Epstein, Trump is also saying he’s “deeply disappointed” in Russian leader Vladimir Putin. That disappointment may result in the deal over Patriot Missile systems being sent to Ukraine. Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Monday, as anticipation grew over a possible shift in the Trump administration’s policy on the three year old war..
Trump last week said he would make a “major statement” on Russia on Monday. He was due to meet with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Washington. Rutte also planned to hold talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as members of Congress. Trump made quickly stoppping the war one of his diplomatic priorities, and he has increasingly express frustration about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unbudging stance on U.S-led peace efforts.
Trump has long boasted of his friendly relationship with Putin, and after taking office in January repeatedly said that Russia was more willing than Ukraine to reach a peace deal. At the same time, Trump accused Zelenskyy of prolonging the war and called him a “dictator without elections.”
But Russia’s relentless onslaught against civilian areas of Ukraine wore down Trump’s patience. In April, Trump urged Putin to “STOP!” launching deadly barrages on Kyiv, and the following month said in a social media post that the Russian leader “has gone absolutely CRAZY” as the bombardments continued.
“I am very disappointed with President Putin, I thought he was somebody that meant what he said," Trump said late Sunday. "He’ll talk so beautifully and then he’ll bomb people at night. We don’t like that.”
Zelenskyy said he and Trump's envoy, retired Lieutenant General Ketih Kellogg, had “a productive conversation” about strengthening Ukrainian air defenses, joint arms production and purchasing U.S. weapons in conjunction with European countries, as well as the possibility of tighter international sanctions on the Kremlin.
“We hope for the leadership of the United States, because it is clear that Moscow will not stop unless its ... ambitions are stopped by force,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
Russia has pounded Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, with hundreds of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles that Ukraine’s air defenses are struggling to counter. June brought the highest monthly civilian casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 wounded, the U.N. human rights mission in Ukraine said. Russia launched 10 times more drones and missiles in June than in the same month last year, it said.
At the same time, Russia’s bigger army is making a new effort to drive back Ukrainian defenders on parts of the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line. Trump confirmed the U.S. is sending Ukraine more badly needed Patriot air defense missiles and that the European Union will pay the U.S. for the “various pieces of very sophisticated” weaponry.
While the EU is not allowed under its treaties to buy weapons, individual EU member countries can and are, just as NATO member countries are buying and sending weapons.
Germany has offered to finance two Patriot systems, government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said Monday in Berlin. As far as other European countries financing more systems is concerned, that would have to be seen in talks, he said.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was traveling to Washington on Monday to meet with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Germany has already given three of its own Patriot systems to Ukraine, and Pistorius was quoted as saying in an interview with the Financial Times that it now has only six.
A top ally of Trump, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said Sunday that the conflict is nearing an inflection point as Trump shows growing interest in helping Ukraine fight back against Russia's full-scale invasion. It’s a cause that Trump had previously dismissed as being a waste of U.S. taxpayer money.
“In the coming days, you’ll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves,” Graham said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He added: “One of the biggest miscalculations Putin has made is to play Trump. And you just watch, in the coming days and weeks, there’s going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table.”
