Live updates: Trump to meet Zelensky and Netanyahu separately at White House

As he arrived in Washington last night, President Zelensky said his number one priority was the provision of anti-ballistic defence, to protect Ukraine’s cities from Russia’s frequent missile bombardments.

At the recent NATO summit, Donald Trump promised Zelensky that the US would grant Ukraine a license to build much-needed Patriot anti-missile defence systems.

Patriots have been top of Ukraine’s wish list for much of the past four years. After the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, they are in very short supply.

Promising a license is one thing. Actually building the highly sophisticated PAC2 and PAC3 interceptors on Ukrainian soil is another. It’s a lengthy political, legal and technical process and no-one expects it to happen soon.

A delegation from the manufacturer, Raytheon, was in Kyiv last week, discussing some of the details.

Any final agreement will only address Ukraine’s long term future needs. As always, Kyiv needs solutions now.