President Donald Trump told NBC on Thursday he struck a deal with NATO for the US to send weapons to Ukraine through the alliance, and that NATO will pay for those weapons “a hundred percent.”
“We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, a hundred percent,” the president told NBC News’ Kristen Welker in a phone interview Thursday. “We’re going to be sending Patriots to NATO, and then NATO will distribute that,” he said, according to NBC News.
CNN has reached out to NATO for comment.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte spoke to Trump earlier Thursday. “Earlier today I urged leaders to go further so Ukraine has more ammunition & air defences,” Rutte posted on X. “I’ve just spoken with President Trump & am now working closely with Allies to get Ukraine the help they need.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said earlier Thursday that the United States is “actively” talking to countries in Europe about sharing Patriot batteries with Ukraine.
“There are other Patriot batteries and there are other opportunities. Countries that have ordered Patriot batteries that are about to receive shipments of them, it’d be great if one of them volunteered to defer that shipment and send it to Ukraine instead,” Rubio told reporters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Earlier this week, Trump hinted that the administration was mulling whether to send another Patriot air defense system to Ukraine.
“They would like it, they’ve asked for it — they’re very rare indeed, because a lot of systems have been sent to Ukraine,” Trump said Wednesday. “But they would like to, I know they made the request. We’re gonna have to take a look at it. Very expensive, very expensive system.”
In his Thursday interview with NBC News, the president also previewed that he would make a “major statement” on Russia on Monday but did not provide additional details.
“I’m disappointed in Russia … a major statement to make on Russia on Monday,” the president said.
CNN’s Kevin Liptak and Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.
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