Trump, Zelenskyy set to meet as Ukraine seeks Patriot missiles
Trump’s Zelenskyy meeting in Ankara comes after Russian strikes killed at least 20, then 28, in Kyiv and exposed Ukraine’s Patriot shortage.
Russian strikes on Kyiv killed at least 20 people in one tally and at least 28 in another the same day, as Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy were set to meet on the sidelines of NATO’s Ankara summit as Ukraine faced a sharper shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles.
The 2026 NATO summit is being held on July 7 and 8 at the Beştepe Presidential Compound in Ankara, with support for Ukraine among the alliance’s central agenda items. The summit agenda also includes higher defense spending and new defense-industry procurements, while Secretary-General Mark Rutte has urged allies to “turn Allied commitments into concrete results” through more investment, industrial production and continued support for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy used the summit’s Defense Industry Forum to press partners for faster production of air-defense and anti-ballistic systems, arguing that “Europe needs affordable, mass-produced anti-ballistic systems because ballistic missiles remain Russia’s last major advantage.” Ukraine said additional Patriot interceptors are needed, and work is underway on licenses to produce air-defense equipment and missiles. Patriot interceptors are the only practical answer to Russia’s ballistic strikes, and Ukraine wants more of them now, not after another production cycle.
Trump is also expected to meet Syria’s Ahmad al-Sharaa at the summit, while the White House says the Ankara trip is part of a renewed push to end the war in Ukraine and press allies to spend more on defense. Ahead of the meetings, a senior U.S. official said the battlefield had “clearly frozen over the last couple of months,” but the military balance in the air has not.
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