Ukraine President says he had ‘fruitful’ phone call on air defence systems with Trump

KYIV (Ukraine): Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday said he had a productive phone call with US President Donald Trump and that he appreciated the readiness of the US to assist Ukraine.

In a post on X, he said, “As per drones, we’ve also reached an agreement with one of the leading American companies to significantly increase our joint efforts. We had an extremely fruitful conversation with the President of the United States yesterday, during which we discussed air defense. I’m grateful for the readiness to assist. Patriot systems are the key to defending against ballistic threats.”

A brief summary of what we have accomplished during the week with the friends of Ukraine.

With Denmark – new agreements on coproduction. The Danish model of investing in Ukraine’s own DIB has proven its effectiveness. Joint work on the territory of Denmark, and soon in other key… pic.twitter.com/f5gwSkho4n

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 5, 2025

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military claimed an attack on the Borisoglebsk airbase in Russia’s Voronezh region, hitting a depot containing glide bombs and training aircraft. Russian officials did not immediately comment on the attack, Al Jazeera reported.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air defences shot down four Ukrainian drones headed for the Russian capital, forcing one of Moscow’s main airports to temporarily halt outgoing flights.

This came as Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its air defences had intercepted 48 Ukrainian drones in a period of just over five hours into Saturday evening, and 45 more during the day. Earlier, the ministry said that 94 drones had been destroyed over Russia overnight, as per Al Jazeera.

In Ukraine, the Air Force said Russia fired 322 drones and decoys into the country overnight into Saturday. Of these, 157 were shot down and 135 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed.

After speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, United States President Donald Trump said Ukraine would need Patriot missiles for its defence. Trump also voiced frustration over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s failure to end the fighting.

Trump told reporters he was “very unhappy” about his earlier call with Putin. “It just seems like he wants to go all the way and just keep killing people… It’s not good. I wasn’t happy with it,” he said, as per Al Jazeera. (ANI)