United States President Donald Trump has paused military aid to Ukraine in a dramatic escalation of his spat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Trump will pause all aid until Kyiv is committed to what he determines are good-faith negotiations for peace, multiple US media outlets reported on Monday, citing unnamed Trump administration officials.The president has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well,” an unnamed White House official was quoted as saying by multiple outlets.
“We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution.”
The move came hours after Trump accused Zelenskyy of not wanting peace “as long he has America’s backing” in a post on Truth Social, escalating a war of words that culminated in a stunning public clash between the two leaders at the White House on Friday.
The decision to suspend the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars in arms and ammunition that are in the pipeline is likely to deal a serious blow to Ukraine’s efforts to repel Russia’s invasion.While the US Congress has not approved any new military aid beyond the tens of billions of dollars already committed to Ukraine since Trump’s inauguration in January, former US President Joe Biden approved transfers to continue supplying equipment for at least several years.
The US has appropriated $182.8bn in response to Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to the US Department of Defense, though that figure includes broader spending related to security, such as US military training in Europe.
Before Trump’s order, Washington was on track to supply monthly deliveries worth $920m this year, up from $500m in 2024, according to an analysis by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies and International Studies (CSIS).
In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press last month, Zelenskyy said his country would have a “low chance to survive” without US support.
News : Al Jazeera
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