U.S. President Donald Trump has suspended all military aid headed for Ukraine in the wake of the explosive Oval Office meeting with Kyiv leader Volodymyr Zelensky last week, a move likely to wreak havoc with dwindling Ukrainian supplies of vital weapons and air-defense systems.
Why It Matters
Ukraine is deeply dependent on U.S. military aid to fight its war against Russia. Washington has sent more than $180 billion in military aid throughout the more than three years of war in eastern Europe, according to the Pentagon.
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What To Know
The Trump administration has accused Zelensky of being ungrateful for the vast amount of U.S. military assistance, although the Ukrainian leader has repeatedly thanked officials and the American people for backing its war effort.
The move to suspend aid widens the gulf between the stance adopted by the Trump administration and the U.S.’ major European allies, many of which pledged fresh support for Ukraine in recent days. A pause of military aid is likely to have a swift, deeply worrying impact on Ukraine’s ability to fend off Russian attacks, effectively forcing Kyiv toward the negotiating table.
A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed that the U.S. had paused military aid to Ukraine, but declined to elaborate.
“The president has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well,” a White House official told numerous outlets. “We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution.”
Zelensky and European allies have insisted a peace deal would need to be a “just” agreement, while Trump has made it clear that he prioritizes reaching a deal as quickly as possible.
Following Friday’s White House visit by Zelensky, who was berated by the president and Vice President JD Vance in front of the world’s media, Trump said the Ukrainian leader “can come back when he is ready for [p]eace.”
The block is reported to cover all U.S. military equipment that has not yet made it to the war-torn country, including that in transit or waiting for delivery in eastern Europe. The decision impacts more than $1 billion in weapons and ammunition, according to The New York Times.
In the days leading up to Trump’s inauguration in January, the outgoing Biden administration announced a final tranche of aid for Ukraine which included air-defense missiles and air-to-ground weapons. It is not clear whether this aid—providing vital capabilities—has already arrived in Ukraine.
Ivan Stupak, a former Ukrainian intelligence official, told Newsweek that while the details are still murky, the block is likely to significantly impact Ukraine’s access to anti-aircraft missiles, especially interceptor missiles fired by the U.S.-made Patriot air-defense system.
Kyiv will likely lose access to a stream of artillery and mortar shells, as well as spare parts and software for U.S.-manufactured equipment like F-16 jets, Abrams tanks and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, Stupak added.
Ukraine has made extensive use of U.S.-delivered systems like High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), and waited many months to get its pilots airborne in Lockheed Martin-designed F-16s in late summer 2024.
It remains to be seen if the U.S. would cut Ukraine’s access to intelligence, Stupak said, which would have major implications on the battlefield as well as for the civilian population.
This type of intelligence helps Ukraine work out where incoming threats originate from, where the weapons will target and what type of missiles or drones are heading for population centers, Stupak said. “The main threat is now for civilian infrastructure,” he said.
It will be “very painful for Ukraine” to lose touch with this type of intelligence, essentially forcing Kyiv to operate with “one eye blind,” he added.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House for comment.
Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration would end the flow of military assistance until it believed Ukraine had showed an appropriate commitment to peace talks, citing an anonymous senior Pentagon official.
However, some observers are split on whether the aid block, which is undoubtedly a blow, will be debilitating. One Ukrainian official told Politico that it “will cost Ukraine unnecessary deaths and lost territories, but will not lead to defeat.”
“Let’s not forget that Ukraine has already experienced prolonged suspensions of U.S. military aid programs and has learned to adapt to such situations,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the chief of Zelensky’s office, in a post to social media.
Ukraine has some reserves and has focused heavily on producing its own weapons and shells, Stupak said. Some recent estimates have indicated Ukraine is able to produce just over half of the military equipment it uses, with around a quarter coming from Europe and a fifth originating in the U.S.
Zelensky said on Monday that a deal to end the war was “still very, very far away.” Trump hit back at the comments on social media, describing the Ukrainian leader’s remarks as “the worst statement that could have been made,” adding: “America will not put up with it for much longer!”
Who Said What
Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the U.K.’s Liberal Democrats party said: “By suspending all military aid to Ukraine, Donald Trump has humiliated the people who pretended he was a reliable ally only in search of peace.” British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly called Trump a “reliable ally” of Europe in recent days.
Democrat Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that “this act of retribution against our ally, who is on the front lines defending freedom and democracy, is not only shameful—it is dangerous.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, in remarks reported by Russian state media on Tuesday, said Washington “has clearly been the main supplier of this war so far” and that “if it ceases to play this role or suspends deliveries, it would likely be the largest contribution to peace.”
What Happens Next
The impacts of the aid stoppage will emerge in the coming days, although progress on any ceasefire talks is likely to take much longer.