{"text":[[{"start":0,"text":"The US has given the green light to the potential $2.1bn sale of 500 Patriot interceptors to Ukraine after Kyiv accused Washington of delaying deliveries of the crucial defensive weapons."}],[{"start":0,"text":"Ukraine would pay for the PAC-3 MSE missiles, the most advanced Patriot interceptors, with funds donated by Canada, Germany and Norway, along with financing from the EU’s Ukraine Support Loan, the US state department said on Friday. The US said no funding from Washington would support the sale."}],[{"start":39.9,"text":"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that Kyiv had been “waiting for nearly a month” for US defence secretary Pete Hegseth “to sign off on missiles for Patriots” for his country."}],[{"start":52.449,"text":"The US approval comes as relations between Washington and Kyiv have deteriorated following a series of policy moves by Donald Trump in Russia’s favour in the more than four-and-a-half year long conflict."}],[{"start":64.066,"text":"The US president, who has blamed Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil refineries for high petrol prices ahead of domestic midterm elections, struck a deal to import Russian diesel and new sanctions on Moscow’s energy exports earlier this month in a bid to lower those consumer costs. Petrol prices have been pushed up by Trump’s war on Iran."}],[{"start":83.173,"text":"The US has also tried pressuring Ukraine into halting its drone attacks on Russia’s refineries."}],[{"start":88.54,"text":"Further tensions between Washington and Kyiv erupted earlier this month after speed limits were imposed on Ukraine’s Starlink communications systems, preventing its drones from flying faster than 160kph."}],[{"start":101.14,"text":"Moscow is also participating in the G20 foreign ministers meeting in Atlanta on Friday and Saturday, though there will be no traditional family photograph after some European delegations refused to pose alongside Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov."}],[{"start":115.8,"text":"The US and Russia are also discussing a potential return by American companies to the Russian oil market as part of wider talks to end President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine among other possible deals. The potential agreements are part of a broader US push to end the conflict by offering incentives to come to the negotiating table."}],[{"start":134.1,"text":"Trilateral talks between Kyiv, Moscow and Washington are expected to resume in Abu Dhabi next month for the first time since February. They will focus on possible security guarantees for Russia and Ukraine after the war ends."}],[{"start":147.06,"text":"Ahead of the US approval announcement, General Alexus Grynkewich, who is commander of both US European Command and Nato, said that Washington has continued supplying Ukraine with the missiles."}],[{"start":157.58,"text":"“Everything has been delivered, in fact, we just had the delivery within the last week,” Grynkewich told reporters in Riga on Friday. “Deliveries have been ongoing.”"}],[{"start":167.74,"text":"Patriot interceptors are crucial for Ukraine to counter Russian ballistic missile attacks. Zelenskyy’s office declined to comment on the approved potential sale."}],[{"start":177.045,"text":"The US department said that “the proposed sale will improve Ukraine’s capability to meet current and future threats by improving its integrated air and missile defence capabilities” and that it would cause “no adverse impact on US defence readiness”."}],[{"start":190.74,"text":"Funding for the sale will be routed through the US’s JUMPSTART programme, a Pentagon mechanism for Ukraine to buy American weaponry using contributions from its allies."}],[{"start":199.5,"text":"The PAC-3 MSE, made by US defence contractor Lockheed Martin, is in high demand globally. The US’s war on Iran has strained its own stocks of the interceptor, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank estimating the Pentagon has only about 800 left, down from about 2,330 before attacking Tehran in February."}],[{"start":219.98,"text":"While Lockheed Martin is increasing production, it will be years before the company hits its target of making 2,000 annually. In the meantime, Lockheed cannot make enough to satisfy current demand from the US and more than a dozen of its allies."}],[{"start":233.18,"text":"Additional reporting by Fabrice Deprez in Kyiv"}],[{"start":241.18,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793416655_2408.mp3"}