Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in the United States on July 27 ahead of a meeting with President Donald Trump, where he said defense will be a top priority for discussion.
“Our number-one priority is anti-ballistic defense and strategic cooperation with America,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X. “Peace needs to be brought closer.”
Graham was a staunch supporter of Ukraine, seeking tougher sanctions against Russia in a bid to bring the war to a close.
One of Graham’s final acts in office was after returning from a trip to Kyiv, on July 10, announcing new bipartisan legislation called the Sanctioning Russia Act, which had been under negotiation for months with the White House and Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Zelenskyy said that “together with everyone attending the ceremony in Washington, we will remember his commitment to security and freedom across the transatlantic community and around the world.”
“There is a clear correlation between Russia’s satellite imagery of these sites and Iranian strikes—both before the attacks, in preparation for them, and afterward, to assess the damage inflicted,” Zelenskyy said in a July 25 presidential address.
“The purpose is clear. None of us in the world should turn a blind eye to one very simple fact: evil always seeks ways to make things worse and spread further.”
On July 27, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he would ask Russian President Vladimir Putin about Zelenskyy’s allegations.
“Well, we‘ll find out if that’s true,” Trump said. “I’ll ask Putin about it. We'll find out. It hasn’t had much impact because we’ve knocked the hell out of them.”
Trump said that even if Russia were giving Iran intelligence, “it hasn’t worked out because they have no army. They have no air force. They have no navy. They have no nothing, so it hasn’t worked out well.”
“I don’t think they’ve been doing it, certainly not at a high level,” Trump said. “And if they have, it has been very un-impactful,” he said.
Patriot Missiles
Earlier this month, Trump met with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, where the U.S. president announced he would grant Kyiv a license to produce Patriot air defense systems, a long-standing request from Ukraine to counter missile attacks from Russia.
“That’s pretty cool, right? This way, he can’t complain that we’re not giving them enough. Let’s say, ‘make them yourself.’”
Zelenskyy praised the air defense systems, saying, “The Patriot system is the best, you know, in the world for today, the best anti-ballistic system.”
Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council Deputy Secretary Davyd Aloian, who is overseeing the project, codenamed Freyja, said that they are aiming to have a minimal viable product by the middle of 2027.
“That is a prototype that can already demonstrate its first practical results,” Aloian said.
