US President Donald Trump has promised to grant Ukraine a license to produce Patriot missile interceptors, a move that could reshape the air defense landscape. Speaking at a NATO summit in Turkey, Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: "A little birdie told me this, about the fact that we'll give them the right to make Patriots. We'll show them how to do it, it's very complex actually. But you'll figure out the complexity quickly." However, no timeline was given for the start of production.

In the short term, Ukraine "perhaps gets nothing," according to Nikolay Mitrokhin, a researcher at Germany's Bremen University. However, access to US technology could accelerate Ukraine's domestic ballistic missile program. Ukraine may opt for cheaper, simpler missiles, with production potentially starting within a year. Mitrokhin also noted that such a program may already exist and has only now been made public.

Meanwhile, the nature of warfare on the front lines is evolving rapidly. Ukrainian forces increasingly rely on drones and ground robots due to a shortage of soldiers. "If we didn't have a shortage of soldiers, the generals would still be sending soldiers to the front line," said Ihor Chaikivsky, head of Robotic Complexes, a company producing ground robots. AI-powered drones, such as those made by Swift Beat, are used to identify Russian targets and are immune to electronic jamming.

Ukrainian strikes have reached deep into Russian territory. On Tuesday, Russia's largest oil refinery in Omsk, Siberia, halted operations after a Ukrainian drone attack. Zelenskyy declared that the war would be won "in the skies," saying: "We have moved into the air domain. And in the air, we are already competitive."

However, former top general Valerii Zaluzhnyi warned that Ukrainian strikes alone cannot yield a decisive victory. "These attacks are expensive, technologically demanding and ultimately reciprocal. Russia retains the ability to strike back with equal or greater force," he wrote. A Russian missile attack on Kyiv early Friday killed 27 people and damaged homes, including that of Kateryna Babich, who said she never thought her building would be hit.

Analysts say it is unclear when Russian President Vladimir Putin will be ready for peace talks. "Kyiv can keep on striking infrastructure, the question is at what stage these successes can be transformed into deals," Mitrokhin said. Recent Ukrainian successes may have convinced the White House to push for a ceasefire rather than Ukrainian concessions, according to Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Penta think tank.

Source: www.aljazeera.com