Trump says U.S. will send more weapons to Ukraine

U.S. President DonaldTrumpsaid on Monday the United States would besendingmoreweaponstoUkraineto help the war-torn country defend itself against Russian attacks.

Speaking to reporters at the White House,TrumpsaidUkrainewas getting hit very hard by Russia and needed to be able to defend itself. The United States would besending primarily defensiveweapons, he said.

Trumpon Friday told reporters thatUkrainewould needPatriot missilesto defend itself, but did not mention them again specifically on Monday.

“We’re going tosendsomemoreweapons. We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard, now. They’re getting hit very hard. We’re going to have tosendmoreweapons, defensiveweapons, primarily,” he said at the start of a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

After a call withTrumpon Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had agreed to work on increasing Kyiv’s capability to “defend the sky” as Russian attacks escalated. He saidhe discussedjoint defense production, purchases and investments withTrump.

Ukrainehas been asking Washington to sell itmorePatriot missiles and systems that it sees as key to defending its cities from intensifying Russian air strikes.

A decision by Washington to halt some shipments ofweaponstoUkraineprompted warnings by Kyiv that the move would weaken its ability to defend against Russia’s air strikes and battlefield advances. Germany said it is in talks on buying Patriot air defense systemsforUkrainetobridge the gap.