The United States will resume sending weapons to Ukraine, the Pentagon confirmed.
“At President Trump’s direction, the Department of Defense is sending additional defense weapons to Ukraine to ensure the Ukraine can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement shared with National Review. “Our framework for POTUS to evaluate military shipments across the globe remains in effect and is integral to our America First defense priorities.”
The statement confirms an announcement Trump made Monday night.
“We have to, they have to be able to defend themselves,” the president told reporters during a dinner Monday night with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of their respective staffs.
The announcement comes less than a week after the Pentagon stopped the delivery of air-defense interceptors and other weapons intended for Ukraine in order to shore up current stockpiles for American defense. The most recent shipments of weapons were in Poland when they were halted, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“They’re getting hit very hard,” Trump said. “Now they’re getting hit very hard. We’re going to have to send more weapons, defensive weapons, primarily, but they’re getting hit very, very hard.”
The decision to withhold arms was made to put America’s interests first following a Pentagon review of U.S. military assistance, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told the Wall Street Journal last week. The review began after Hegseth issued a memo ordering the Pentagon’s Joint Staff to review stockpiles of all munitions.
At a briefing last week, Parnell called the assessment of munitions a “capability review.”
“We can’t give weapons to everybody all around the world,” Parnell said. “Part of our job is to give the president a framework that he can use to evaluate how many munitions we have where we’re sending them.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told ABC News in a broadcast Sunday that his forces had been counting on the promised weapons shipments from the United States, including 20,000 anti-drone missiles that the Trump administration previously diverted to the Middle East in June.
The decision to withhold defense materials also sparked domestic backlash. Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican, requested an emergency briefing from the White House and the Department of Defense to address the issue last week.
“Mr. President, Ukrainian soldiers and pilots are not just protecting their homeland-they are holding the line for the entire democratic world,” Fitzpatrick wrote. “This is a defining moment: Ukraine’s courage must continue to be met with action, and the United States must continue to lead with clarity and purpose.”
Representative Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas, said it was crucial to provide military aid to Ukraine and show Russia that the United States would stand behind the country.
“We can’t let Putin prevail now. President Trump knows that too and it’s why he’s been advocating for peace,” McCaul wrote on social media. “Now is the time to show Putin we mean business. And that starts with ensuring Ukraine has the weapons Congress authorized to pressure Putin to the negotiating table.”
National Review has contacted the Pentagon for further information.