On Saturday, President Donald Trump welcomed Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House for separate discussions, describing the meetings as "positive and productive".
The visits followed the funeral of former Senator Lindsey Graham, a noted U.S. ally of both Israel and Ukraine, who passed away earlier in the month. Graham’s death added a layer of urgency to the talks, as the U.S. continues to support Kyiv and Tel Aviv in their respective conflicts.
Zelensky urged the president for a licence to produce Patriot air‑defence missiles in the United States, a promise he had highlighted at the recent NATO summit. Ukraine’s air strip must withstand Russian drone and ballistic missile attacks, and the Patriot system—capable of intercepting targets up to 1,000 km away—could be a game‑changer. Each missile is estimated at $3‑5 million, and Kyiv has requested 25 units to meet its defence needs.
In an Instagram‑style post on Truth Social, Trump called the closed‑door meeting "very well" and confirmed that Ukraine would receive licences for domestic Patriot production. Zelensky later told Fox News that U.S. officials "accepted" the request and that producers in the United States are preparing for a co‑production effort.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s audience focused sharply on the Iranian threat, a topic that has strained U.S.–Israel relations recently. He highlighted the shared goal of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and praised the meeting as "one of the best conversations I have had with the president of the United States."
Shortly after the talks, the U.S. military announced that Iranian forces had attempted a surprise missile attack on U.S. forces in the Middle East; all missiles were reportedly intercepted. U.S. and Saudi troops also struck Iranian proxies in eastern Iraq that had previously targeted Saudi energy infrastructure.
The White House has yet to release a formal statement on the outcomes, but analysts predict that the discussions could lead to a decisive shift in U.S. aid to Ukraine and in the U.S.‑Israel‑Iran security triad.
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