Ukraine urgently needs additional military support. Now, however, the US government has announced that it is temporarily halting military aid from Washington to Kiev. US President Donald Trump is "focused on peace", the White House said. Therefore, military aid will be halted until further notice and reviewed.
Sent and ordered weapons and ammunition have been halted
The decision was announced just a few days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the White House, which ended prematurely after a sharp clash between him and Trump. According to the "New York Times", support for Kiev will only be resumed when "Trump sees that Ukraine wants peace talks with Russia".
Trump's order takes effect immediately. It concerns the shipment of weapons and ammunition worth more than a billion dollars. All of them are already in the process of delivery or have been ordered. According to the "Washington Post" Trump discussed his decision with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Is the US economic interest in Ukraine a guarantee of security?
Vice President Vance commented to "Fox News" that Trump's door is open to Zelensky if he is willing to negotiate for peace. According to Vance, it is in the interest of Ukraine to give economic opportunities to the US by signing the rare earth metals deal. According to Vance, Washington's economic interest in Ukraine is a guarantee of its security. "
The real security guarantee, if you really want to make sure that Vladimir Putin doesn't invade Ukraine again, is to give Americans economic benefits tied to the future of Ukraine,” Vance said. ”””””.
Trump has long threatened to cut off military aid to Ukraine
Trump had already threatened to cut off military aid to Ukraine during his election campaign. After a clash between himself, the vice president, and Zelensky in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump again threatened publicly to cut off all support for Kiev. According to the US President, Zelensky had no interest in negotiating peace while the US was supplying weapons to Ukraine because this gave him a strategic advantage over Russia.
During Joe Biden's term, Ukraine was the biggest supporter of Ukraine and supplied the most weapons to the country attacked by Russia. Since the start of the full-scale war in February 2022, the Biden administration has sent the US military aid worth over $65 billion. Ukraine has also been assisted in other ways - with economic and humanitarian aid packages, as well as intelligence information. It is not yet clear whether this assistance will also be stopped by Trump.
Europe can hardly compensate for the lack of American aid
Since Trump took office, Ukraine has continued to receive the military aid approved by the Biden administration. The Ukrainians were expected to be able to maintain the front line for at least another six months with the weapons that were to be delivered from the military aid packages approved by Biden.
Ukraine is also receiving support from a number of other Western countries. However, they will hardly be able to compensate for the loss of the huge resource provided by the United States. Supplies of military equipment from Washington cannot be replaced, especially the Patriot air defense systems. It is likely that gaps will open in Ukraine's defenses very quickly, and Russia could take advantage of this to attack the country with ballistic missiles. Ukraine's energy system, which has been under attack for months, will also remain unprotected.