Zelenskyy met in Kyiv Thursday with senior representatives of Raytheon, the U.S. company that makes the Patriot air defense systems Ukraine desperately needs to counter the devastating ballistic missiles Russia uses to advance its invasion. The Raytheon meeting came less than three weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to give Ukraine a license to produce Patriots. The pledge marked an important shift as Trump recently has adopted a more positive tone toward Zelenskyy.

The Ukrainian leader added that the company was ready to jointly produce Patriot interceptors with Ukraine. Zelenskyy is keen to move quickly on a coproduction agreement as Russia relentlessly fires ballistic missiles that are hard to stop and cause civilian casualties as well as inflicting huge damage on civilian areas. He has long pleaded for more and faster delivery of Patriot deliveries as necessary supplements to Ukraine’s own air defenses. Experts caution, however, that establishing domestic production within the Eastern European country could take years.

Full report: A Russian ballistic strike kills 6 after Ukraine’s Zelenskyy hosts US company making Patriots.