President Trump's declaration from the NATO summit in Turkey this week saying that he'll give Ukraine a license to produce Patriot defense systems has been met with a lot of skepticism, both among Ukrainians and internationally.
"We’ll give them the right to make Patriots. We’ll show them how to do it," Trump had said. "I think they can produce them pretty quickly."
Zelensky seized on the opening, telling reports on Thursday, "America has recognized Ukraine as a country that is ready to do this" and urged Ukrainian and American officials to now work "without pauses" to finalize the licensing arrangements.
Immediately the Associated Press raised some relevant questions, such as: What exactly would Ukraine be allowed to produce?... also while pointing out that under the best conditions, getting such production off the ground would take 'years'. It wrote:
Anatolii Khrapchynskyi, development director of the Fly Group Ukraine defense company, said Trump’s wording was ambiguous because he referred broadly to producing “Patriots,” without specifying whether he meant missiles, launchers, radar systems, command centers or components.
Missile production alone involves a vast supply chain, Khrapchynskyi said, with hundreds of companies making parts such as control surfaces, engines, guidance systems and communications equipment.
Following this, on Saturday Ukrainian economist and financial analyst Alexey Kushch - considered an expert of Ukraine's defense production - was cited in regional media as dismissing Trump's promise as mere empty PR.
His commentary is below, featured in Russian media:
"I think that was a marketing statement," Kushch said in an interview with Novyny. Live news website, referring to Trump’s pledge. According to him, only Semi-Knocked Down (SKD) production of Patriot missiles could be launched in Ukraine, using imported components. "Such production sites should be protected," the expert explained. "The whole of Ukraine is exposed to [enemy] fire, and missiles can even reach the Transcarpathian Region," he said. According to Kushch, Patriot production could be localized in his country only after the hostilities end.
"We don’t have a [Turkish] Bayraktar plant, or [German] Rheinmetall production either here yet," he added.
As for Trump's initial comments, he had also explained that American defense firms are already building "four plants" in the US and claimed that "all of our companies will be able to do this in two to three months."
There have notoriously been immense backlogs when it comes to Patriot production, and there's said to be great global demand among US allies, especially given depletions which have come as a result of the Iran war.