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The Trump administration has delayed approving transfers of Patriot interceptor missiles to Ukraine from partner countries, The Washington Post reported, as U.S. President Donald Trump said it may be time for someone other than Volodymyr Zelenskyy to negotiate for Kyiv.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has not formally rejected the transfers but has not completed the steps required to approve them, a U.S. official and three other people familiar with the matter told the Post.
A Ukrainian official said last week that Ukraine had "only a couple" of interceptors left.
Patriot interceptors are one of Ukraine's main defenses against Russian ballistic missiles, and the delay deepens the worst rift between Kyiv and Washington since early in Trump's second term.
Zelenskyy told U.S. senators on Monday that "the Pentagon is delaying the delivery of missiles" already paid for by European countries, saying the shipment awaits Hegseth’s signature.
"The missiles are ready, and they could already be in Ukraine. But unfortunately, there is still no approval," he said, according to his office.
"All of this suggests that some political decision has been made to slow down the support for us," the Ukrainian leader added.
A senior Pentagon official said "there has been no change to Department of War policy regarding intelligence sharing or any capabilities we are enabling Europeans to provide to Ukraine," adding that the program for allies to supply U.S.-built weapons "continues unaltered."
"Zelenskyy doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Zelenskyy is a man that should have had this war settled a long time ago,” Trump told reporters Monday.
"I think it’s time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine because what’s happened? A tremendous number of people are dead. They’re losing their male population," he added.
"Zelenskyy is not helping matters much. I think he doesn’t want to stop it, but I want to see people not die," Trump said, adding, "We share intelligence. We share a lot. We’ve given a lot to Ukraine. They’ve given nothing to us."
Asked about a possible meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump said he had not agreed but would.
"We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearization," he said, adding he would do "anything I can do to end the war, whether somebody’s there or not."
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said such a meeting would "only encourage Putin to continue this war."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a "software problem" occurred "a couple of nights ago" that the U.S. European Command was examining, after Zelenskyy said Ukraine again received no early warning of Russian missile strikes.
A Russian strike near Kharkiv killed six people, including three children, authorities said.
U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will join talks in Oslo on Tuesday with Zelenskyy and the leaders of Norway and Finland, Norway’s government said in a statement.
"Ukraine has requested that U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner join the meetings. I am pleased that they are able to participate," Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said.
Witkoff will then travel to Russia, hoping to meet Putin, Axios reported.
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