US President Donald Trump said that Washington will send Patriot air defense systems to to Ukraine to help it deal with Russian strikes, at a time, reported Agence France-Presse, quoted by BTA, noting that relations between the US president and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are deteriorating.
"We're going to send them Patriots, which they desperately need", said Donald Trump, two weeks after Washington announced the suspension of some arms deliveries to Kiev.
"I haven't decided how much yet, but they're going to get them because they need protection", he added.
According to Trump, the arms delivery will be part of a deal that includes NATO paying the US for the weapons it will send to Ukraine.
"We're actually going to send them a wide variety of very sophisticated military equipment, and they're going to pay us 100% for it," Donald Trump told reporters.
The American president repeated that he was “disappointed“ with his Russian counterpart. At the beginning of his term, Trump tried to convince Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the conflict, AFP recalls. Now he has again expressed his disappointment with the intensive Russian strikes on Ukraine and the lack of prospects for a ceasefire.
"Putin has really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice, and then in the evening he bombs everyone", Trump said, visibly dissatisfied.
US special envoy Keith Kellogg is expected to begin a new visit to Ukraine today.
Donald Trump also said he would meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday - a date on which he had earlier announced that he would make a "major statement regarding Russia".
Trump also said he hoped the Gaza issue would be "resolved" next week, amid difficult ceasefire talks between Israel and the Palestinian movement "Hamas".
"On Gaza, we are discussing and hopefully that will be resolved next week," Trump added.
The two sides have accused each other of blocking indirect talks that began on July 6 in Doha to end the 21-month war.