The United States has backtracked on delivering another cache of weapons earmarked for Ukraine, a move Russian officials say will help end the war between the two Eastern Bloc nations faster.
A shipment of various missiles, rockets, and other ammunition allocated for Ukraine was in Poland, en route, when the Trump administration put a stop to it. White House and Pentagon officials issued comments suggesting the administration believes this is in America’s best interest.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly emailed a statement to American media outlets, saying the U.S. Defense Department stopped these deliveries after a review revealed that American military stockpiles were low. She added: “This decision was made to put America’s interests first following a review of our nation’s military support and assistance to other countries across the globe.”
The undersecretary of defense for policy at the Pentagon, Elbridge Colby, told The Wall Street Journal that
the Defense Department would provide President Trump with options to continue military aid to Ukraine that are “consistent with his goal of bringing this tragic war to an end. The department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving U.S. forces’ readiness for administration defense priorities,” he said.
The shipment includes “Patriot air-defense interceptors, air-to-air missiles, Hellfire air-to-ground missiles and surface-to-surface rockets, artillery rounds, and Stinger surface-to-air missiles,” according to the Journal.
Matthew Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo that “this is what America First looks like.” America’s needs should be addressed first, he said. “We just need to make sure that we have what we need at anytime to deter and defend ourselves on a credible basis.”
A former Pentagon official who was fired under suspicious and controversial circumstances, Dan Caldwell, approved the decision as well. He told the Journal:
President Trump and [Defense] Secretary [Pete] Hegseth are making the right decision to prioritize to our own readiness and force protection over supplying Ukraine in a war where there are no vital American interests at stake.
Ukrainian officials, however, didn’t welcome the news. Reports indicate they didn’t know this was going to happen. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry told The Washington Post Wednesday that
it had “not received any official notifications” about the “suspension or revision of the delivery schedules” for U.S. military assistance and had requested a phone conversation “to further clarify the details.”
It further said the move would only perpetuate the war. According to the Post,
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry summoned the top official at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv and said afterward that “any delay or slowing down in supporting Ukraine’s defense capabilities would only encourage the aggressor to continue war and terror, rather than seek peace.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was not too pleased with the news, either, and asked the Trump administration to reconsider, saying:
The US always has to make sure that their own interests are covered. But when it comes to Ukraine, in the short term, Ukraine cannot do without all the support it can get when it gets ammunition and air defense systems.
Democratic legislators decried the decision. Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the Journal, “The Pentagon is significantly weakening Ukraine’s defense against aerial attacks even as Russia pounds Ukrainian cities night after night, with numerous civilians dead and wounded.”
Shaheen also blasted the move on X, calling it “reckless.”
A former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor, told the Journal, “The Ukrainians are defending themselves, the rest of Europe and U.S. security interests from an aggressive Russia. Denying them Patriot missiles will cost civilian and military lives.”
Not surprisingly, Russian officials welcomed the news. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “The less weapons are supplied to Ukraine the closer the end of the special military operation.” This is happening as Russia is embarking on a summer offensive.
In early June, the Pentagon made a similar move when it redirected anti-drone weaponry earmarked for Ukraine to the Middle East. This latest development reinforces the notion that the Trump administration does not view Ukraine’s plight as a priority.
President Donald Trump has had roller coaster relationships with the leaders of Ukraine and Russia. Although his willingness to speak with Russia’s Vladimir Putin is a complete turnaround from the Biden administration’s silent treatment, he has publicly chided the Russian leader, specifically after attacks on Kiev. As for Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, the U.S. president has been a lot cooler with him than the previous administration.
Trump’s inability to broker peace between these bitter enemies has prompted public ruminations of backing out of the process completely. This latest move further divests the U.S. from a war on the other side of the world.