MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Both Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy are dealing with war at home. Those conflicts were at the heart of their separate meetings with President Trump at the White House on Tuesday.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Trump's relationship with Netanyahu has faced increasing strain, while his ties with Zelenskyy have steadily improved. In a few moments, we'll speak with former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor, about the latest developments in that bilateral relationship.
MARTIN: But to start, we're joined by NPR's Greg Myre, who's in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. Greg, good morning.
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Hi, Michel.
MARTIN: So what are you hearing about how the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting went?
MYRE: Yeah. By all accounts, positive. We all remember the big blow-up they had in the Oval Office last year. But they've met several times since, including twice this month, and they've been steadily rebuilding the relationship. Trump has been treating Zelenskyy with more respect, especially as Ukraine has gained momentum with its punishing long-range drone attacks against Russia. Now, there were no cameras at the meeting yesterday, and Trump hasn't commented, but Zelenskyy called it a good meeting. He also received a warm welcome from more than 60 senators from both parties. So the general tone keeps improving, though Ukraine is looking for more - namely weapons.
MARTIN: Yeah. But Trump has effectively cut off additional military aid to Ukraine. Is there any sign of change on this front?
MYRE: No, not in terms of the U.S. directly sending weapons to Ukraine. But Trump does appear to be following through on an offer he made to Zelenskyy earlier this month. He said Ukraine can have a license to build its own Patriot air defense missiles. And right after Zelenskyy wrapped up the meeting with Trump, he headed to talks with executives at Lockheed Martin, which makes the Patriots. Now, Ukraine has become a world leader in making drones, but making the Patriot air defense missile is a very complex task, and it could take years. So this is by no means a quick fix.
MARTIN: Can you give a sense of what it's like to be in Ukraine with these regular airstrikes?
MYRE: Yeah. The Russians fire drones and missiles all over Ukraine every night. Ukraine says it shoots down around 90% of the drones with its own interceptor drones. And Ukraine also had enough Patriots and other weapons to shoot down most incoming Russian missiles. But now a much higher percentage of those Russian ballistic missiles are reaching the targets because Ukraine is just low on the Patriots.
Now, Kyiv has the best air defenses in the country. And previously, you could be pretty confident that Ukraine could stop most, if not all, the attacks on the city. But now, when the air raid sirens start howling in the middle of the night, there is a much higher chance that some of those missiles will hit the city and other parts of Ukraine. And this is all based on the figures that Ukraine's military puts out daily.
MARTIN: Now, Greg, you know, we usually treat the wars in Ukraine and in Iran as entirely separate conflicts. But we've seen some overlap recently. Will you tell us about that?
MYRE: Yeah, sure. Zelenskyy said Ukraine carried out a long-range airstrike Saturday that hit an Iranian boat in the Caspian Sea that was carrying military cargo to Russia. Now, we don't independently know what was on that ship, but Russia and Iran have had a military partnership that goes back decades. Iran initially threatened to retaliate but now says it's not seeking to escalate this episode.
Now, separately, Zelenskyy also said Russia is sharing satellite data with Iran on the location of U.S. troops in the Middle East. He says this allows Iran to carry out more precise attacks on the Americans. And Trump was asked about this recently, and he said he would check with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Greg Myre in Kyiv. Greg, thank you.
MYRE: Sure thing, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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