Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that President Trump will allow Ukraine to build Patriot missiles with “concrete agreements” in place between Kyiv and Washington. “There are concrete agreements regarding Patriot licenses,”
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Trump blames Zelensky for diesel prices, then verbally hands him the missile license he's chased for months.
As it ran on the front
Volodymyr Zelensky says Donald Trump has made a "final decision." Zelensky has used that phrase, or one like it, to describe the same Patriot missile production license for months, and Friday's version arrived the way the others have: verbally, at a meeting, with nothing on paper.
The paper trail says the two men were somewhere else eleven days earlier. On Monday, September 14, Trump posted on Truth Social that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to an energy-target ceasefire — an announcement made, by his own account, after he had criticized Zelensky over the diesel prices Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries were driving up. The next day, that criticism ran as its own story: Trump publicly telling Zelensky to stop hitting the refineries.…
…(cont) Two days after that, on September 17, The Hill was still finding new mileage in an older Trump line: "When you start a war, you got to know you can win," he told Zelensky back in April, about a war Ukraine did not start. The advice read worse in September, after Trump's own war with Iran ended the way it did.
On September 20, Zelensky announced a meeting with Trump in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Five days later, he had his answer, and he gave it twice: once to Ukrainian media, where he said Trump had verbally confirmed the Patriot license would finally be approved, and once online, where he wrote that Kyiv and Washington now had "concrete agreements" on the license. Neither version cited a document. Both cited the same meeting.
That is the full distance the deal has traveled since Trump blamed Zelensky for the price of diesel: eleven days, one Truth Social post about a ceasefire, one meeting, and two announcements of the same verbal yes. The license Zelensky says is finally approved is the license he has been saying is about to be approved for months. No document has entered the record yet.
“This is the whole racket: blame the guy for diesel prices, then dangle the missile license he's been chasing for months, and call it a deal. No signature's shown up yet — just another quote from another sideline meeting. Real air defense doesn't move on a verbal yes.”
“The President made a real decision here, at the United Nations, verbally, which is basically the same as— no, a verbal confirmation isn't a signed license, that's the entire distinction. He said "final," and final means final, unless Zelensky's said that before, which the record says he has. Did I just undercut the President? Let me get back to you.”
The receipts
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claims the White House will finally give his military a weapons production license he has been pursuing for months. Zelensky told Ukrainian media on Friday that President Donald Trump verbally confirmed to him on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly this week that Ukraine will be…
"I'll meet with Putin. I'll meet with Zelensky... And within 24 hours, that war will be settled" - Trump, 10 May 2023, one of 53 such promises counted by CNN CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Zelensky said Trump agrees to speak in New York for diplomatic meetingUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced plans for a high-stakes meeting with President Donald Trump in New York. As the Ukraine-Russia war continues for more than four years, the U.S. has provided support valued at billions.
· Trump had to crush Iran instead of making deals. He didn't — now he pays the price. from the morgue, 17 Sep 2026
· Trump calls out Zelensky over rising diesel prices from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Trump says Ukraine and Russia have agreed to energy target ceasefire from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.