US President Donald Trump refused to grant Ukraine the right to produce "Patriot" anti-aircraft missile systems.
Modern.az reports that "The New York Times" spread information about this.
According to the publication, Trump effectively withdrew his promise to grant licenses for the production of "Patriot" missiles to Ukraine at the beginning of July.
Answering a question about this issue at a meeting with members of the Cabinet of Ministers on Friday, the US President said:
"We did not agree to this".
Trump justified his decision by the riskiness of transferring defense technologies.
"It is difficult to give such technologies. Because the people you give them to can one day turn against you".
The New York Times reminds that the US sold weapons to Iran in the 1970s when the Shah of Iran was in power. However, after the Islamic Revolution that followed, those weapons became a factor of threat for Washington. As the publication notes, during the recent confrontation between the US and Iran, American forces also destroyed the last US-made fighters that were once sold to Iran.
According to the newspaper, organizing the production of "Patriot" missiles in Ukraine would require the disclosure of classified information about US defense technologies and close cooperation between companies such as Raytheon and Lockheed Martin with Ukraine.
In addition, it is emphasized that setting up such production could take months, even years, and the production facilities to be created in Ukraine would become a priority target for Russia.
