The signing of the landmark minerals deal between Ukraine and the Trump administration is greasing the wheels on the Biden-era initiative of sending more air defense system support to Ukraine to help fight off Russia.
A Patriot air-defense system in Israel is getting refurbished and repurposed to Ukraine, and the Western allies are working logistics for Germany or Greece to send more Patriots, four sources told The New York Times.
"President Trump has been clear: He wants the war in Ukraine to end and the killing to stop," National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt told the Times, declining to comment on the specifics of the report.
Notably, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is taking on the added role as President Donald Trump's acting national security adviser, and Rubio has been bullish on defending Ukraine against Russia's Vladimir Putin-ordered invasion going back to his days as the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee during the Biden administration.
An official from the Biden White House years noted to the Times the repurposing of the Patriot air-defense system from Israel to Ukraine was planned since September before the November election of President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly talked about cutting back on massive financial support for Ukraine as he hoped to secure peace with Putin and Russia.
The Defense Department told the Times that "it continues to provide equipment to Ukraine from previously authorized."
After weeks of a contentious back-and-forth with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump has hardened on his rhetoric against Putin and Russia and softened his rebukes on Ukraine, the Times reported.
Trump met with Zelenskyy at Pope Francis' funeral, and this past week the delayed minerals deal was signed, a pact that Trump backers note provides de facto security guarantees for Ukraine against future Russia aggression while U.S. officials, contractors, and American interests work to extract rare earth minerals.
The minerals deal has moved up plans to provide bolstered air defenses for Ukraine, Zelenskyy told reporters Saturday in Kyiv.
The embattled Ukranian leader, who has extended martial law and stopped democratic elections through August to Trump's dismay, has repeatedly urged for receipt of the Patriot air-defense systems.
Patriots have radar and launchers to intercept incoming missiles.
"We are ready to purchase the necessary number of Patriot systems for our country,"
Zelenskyy said in a speech. "This is not about charity."
Trump admitted Zelenskyy requested more Patriot missiles at the brief Pope Francis sit-down.
"He told me that he needs more weapons," Trump told reporters. "He's been saying that for three years. Look, he wants to do something good for his country."
Despite Trump's urging toward a ceasefire, if not a lasting peace, between Ukraine and Russia, Washington's Institute for the Study of War analyst Kateryna Stepanenko said Putin has picked up its missile attacks.
"Part of it is a psychological and political campaign that the Kremlin is waging, in which it's trying to scare Ukrainian people into essentially accepting capitulation, when the realities of the battlefield for Russia are far from Russia actually winning," she told the Times.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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