President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with a delegation from the U.S. company Raytheon, led by Vice President Joseph DeAntona, which manufactures, among other products, Patriot air defense systems and interceptors.
The Head of State thanked Raytheon for all the assistance it has provided in protecting the lives of Ukrainians from Russia's massive attacks.
"We are very grateful to all the workers of your great company for this visit. We are grateful to President Trump and the people of the United States, and we appreciate the bipartisan support. We are proud to have such a good relationship, and I hope we can take it even further," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The Head of State stressed that strengthening Ukraine's air defense remains the country's top priority.
"And I believe this is the number one issue for all of Europe and for the whole world. We can see what is happening in the Middle East right now and the scale of attacks that can be launched from Iranian territory. We understand that this is truly a major challenge," the President added.
The meeting focused on prospects for cooperation in protecting the skies. Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed Raytheon's readiness to take the partnership to an even higher level by co-producing interceptors for Patriot systems. The Head of State noted that he had a substantive discussion on this with U.S. President Donald Trump in Ankara and that work in this direction should now move forward.
The two sides also discussed other areas of partnership, including on non-offensive military equipment. The teams from both sides – at the government level and from the private sector – will remain in close contact to work through it all.
Raytheon Vice President emphasized that the company is very interested in opportunities to work jointly with Ukraine on ground-based air defense systems.