President Donald Trump announced on Sunday he will send Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked for more defensive capabilities to fend off a daily barrage of missile and drone attacks from Russia.
‘We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need, because [Russian President Vladimir] Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then bombs everybody in the evening,’ Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews just outside of Washington DC.
‘But there’s a little bit of a problem there. I don’t like it,’ he said.
‘We basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated military equipment. They are going to pay us 100 percent for that, and that’s the way we want it,’ Trump said.
The stunning announcement comes just days after it was revealed that the president told a private meeting he once warned Putin he would ‘bomb the **** out of Moscow‘ if he were to attack Ukraine.
Apparently in reference to his first term, Trump said: ‘With Putin I said, “If you go into Ukraine, I’m going to bomb the **** out of Moscow. I’m telling you I have no choice.”‘
President Donald Trump announced on Sunday he will send Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine that will be paid for by the European Union
Trump also hit out at Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he ‘talks nice and then bombs everybody in the evening’
Ukraine already has a handful of Patriot systems (like the ones pictured), donated by the United States and other allies
The president’s deployment of the missiles marks a U-turn for the US president, who had campaigned on an ‘America First’ platform.
But as the Russian leader continued to resist Trump’s attempts to negotiate a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, the US president has taken a more hardline stance against Putin.
Earlier this month, the president even reversed course on suspending the delivery of air defense interceptors and other weapons intended for Ukraine as Moscow intensifies its aerial assault on the Ukrainian capital.
The announcement created an awkward moment with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is credited with being behind the decision to stop the military aid.
He could be seen glaring at Trump and nodding repeatedly while the president spoke about Russia‘s ongoing attacks on Ukraine.
Also making noticeable gestures was CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who was seated next to Hegseth.
But it was not the first time that Trump hinted at his growing animosity of the Russian leader – after previously accusing him of lying in negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
‘We get a lot of bull**** thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,’ Trump told reporters at a Cabinet meeting.
Trump has taken a hardline stance against the Russian president as he continued to resist attempts to negotiate a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia
‘He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless,’ Trump said, complaining that it had been ‘tougher’ than he anticipated to bring about a ceasefire in the three-year war.
It has also been revealed in audio recordings from a 2024 fundraiser that Trump claimed Putin would have never invaded Ukraine in 2022 had he been in office after he had threatened to bomb Moscow.
He said the Russian leader responded: ‘”I don’t believe you, no way”… and I said “way”.’
Responding to the report, White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said: ‘As President Trump has said time and again, Russia never dared invade Ukraine when he was in office. It happened only when Biden was in office.
‘Thanks to this President’s leadership, America is once again the leader of the free world, and peace through strength is restored.’
Residential buildings in Kyiv have been destroyed in recent Russian attacks
The president’s decision now to send more Patriot missiles marks the first time Trump approved of providing a major weapons system to Kyiv beyond the number authorized by the previous administration.
Ukraine already has a handful of Patriot systems, donated by the United States and other allies. Each comprise multiple launchers, a radar, a command and control element and interceptor missiles.
With these weapons, Ukrainian defense forces have neutralized more than 20 missiles and most strike drones.
But residential buildings in the heart of Kyiv have been hit, and over the weekend Russian forces targeted areas close to NATO territory.
At least eight people are reported to have died and many more were injured near the Ukrainian borders with Poland and Romania after Russia fired nearly 600 drones and 26 long-range missiles towards Lviv and Chernivtsi.
Zelensky then urged Western allies to send ‘more than just signals’ to stop the war and called for sanctions to ‘curb the pace of Russian air strikes’.
It remains unclear how many Patriots he plans to send to Ukraine, but he insisted the United States would be reimbursed for their cost by the European Union.
The US president is also expected to meet with North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House on Monday, where he will likely broach the topic.
