This story is adapted from the Slatest newsletter. You can sign up here to get it in your inbox every day.
Meetings with Donald Trump haven’t always gone well for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In a 2019 phone call, Trump unsuccessfully pressured Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden. In a 2025 Oval Office ambush, Trump accused Zelensky of being insufficiently grateful for U.S. help after Russia invaded. So it’s notable that during this week’s NATO summit, Trump and Zelensky largely got along. Their ability to meet cordially isn’t just about manners; it’s a metric of Trump’s support for Ukraine and, more broadly, for the Western-led world order of which NATO is a big part. Let’s dive in.
What did Trump say at this meeting that was good news for Ukraine?
At NATO’s annual summit in Ankara, Turkey, on Wednesday, Trump said he would let Ukraine manufacture Patriot defense systems, sophisticated U.S. mobile batteries that can shoot down enemy ballistic missiles. “That’s really cool, right?” Trump said, with Zelensky beside him.
How will that help Ukraine?
In two related ways. Russia has stepped up ballistic missile attacks on Ukrainian cities, which are running low on Patriot interceptors. Russia launched those barrages in response to Ukrainian drone attacks on weapons factories, fuel depots, and oil refineries as far away as Siberia. Those Ukrainian attacks, which Trump also praised Wednesday, have created fuel and power shortages that are angering Russian civilians normally isolated from the war’s impacts. Letting Ukraine make Patriots could help it continue those strikes and defend against counterattacks, upping the pressure on Vladimir Putin to sue for peace.
How quickly will Ukraine get the Patriots it needs?
It could be a while. Patriots are complicated; as the New York Times has reported, Japan and Germany took years to actually make any after getting licensed. Ukraine technically doesn’t even have its license yet, a process that involves the defense contractors that produce Patriots. And given Trump’s mercurial nature, some Ukrainians are skeptical he’ll deliver.
Yeah, I seem to recall Trump being pretty hostile to Ukraine and cozy with Russia. Has he done a 180?
Not exactly. He has accused Ukraine of provoking Russia’s invasion, pressured it to surrender territory, and temporarily froze U.S. military aid to the country last year. He gabbed on the phone with Putin for nearly 90 minutes last week and reiterated that the Russian leader wants peace, despite little evidence of that. But Trump also loves a winner, and Ukraine has lately been looking more like one.
How so?
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, the conflict has settled into a grinding war of attrition, with both sides deeply dug in. But Ukraine has pioneered innovations that are tilting the playing field. Besides those long-range strikes into Russia, Ukrainian drones have taken out Russian ships, killed and injured more Russian troops, and helped retake captured territory. Trump isn’t the only Western leader who has noticed. NATO this week promised billions more in military aid to Ukraine, and last month the G7—which includes Canada and Japan—pledged additional economic sanctions on Russia. Ukraine is still far from restoring its preinvasion borders, a task that may prove impossible. But in its goal of making Putin’s invasion too costly to sustain, Ukraine appears to be making progress.
Tolga Akdoğan
Now that you’re up to speed, it’s time to transition to the weekend! As a sendoff into your Friday night, might we recommend:
A news quiz that will satisfy your competitive streak: See if you can beat a Slate senior producer’s score—or mine! I got 451, a score fit for Ray Bradbury.
-
I Never Stopped Thinking About Graham Platner’s Tattoo. This Week, I Realized Why.
-
Todd Blanche Has Already Flunked His Confirmation Hearing
A pair of heartwarming World Cup reflections: Soccer stirs up all sorts of emotions for fans. For Jeremy Stahl, whose family is French and Moroccan, Thursday’s quarterfinal game between his two ancestral countries was a special blend of pain and pleasure. Meanwhile, Luke Winkie talked with several newly minted fans who never cared about the sport—until they discovered Norway’s delightfully dorky star player Erling Haaland.
A conversation about the deeper questions behind a wedding budget: We’re still thinking about Taylor Swift’s Madison Square Garden nuptials! Weddings are spectacles, and a couple’s budget can say a lot about what matters to them. Back in 2023, Slate’s Anna Sale spoke to couples with vastly different attitudes about how much to spend. In this week’s episode of Death, Sex & Money, she checked back in with some of them to see how things have changed.
The case for a lazy Sunday: Got weekend plans? If not, I have a simple solution: Just hang out! As Dan Kois illustrates in this ode to kicking back with friends, spending unstructured time together is a blessedly simple cure to the ills of modern life.
Congrats on making it through another busy week of news. See you Monday!
Sign up for Slate’s evening newsletter.