White House confirmed overnight reports in the U.S. media that some shipments of American military aid to Ukraine has recently been halted, out of fear that U.S. ammunition and air defense missiles were running low.
Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said that, following a review process conducted at the Pentagon regarding US military aid to various countries around the world, "it was decided to put America's interests first" - and to freeze some of the shipments. She highlighted the American bombing of nuclear facilities in Iran and emphasized: "The strength of the U.S. armed forces is beyond doubt - just ask Iran."
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US launches HIMARS rocket system that Washington has supplied to Ukraine
(Photo: AFP )
The Trump administration's decision to halt some aid to Ukraine was first reported last night by the news website Politico, and three sources familiar with the details noted that it was made following a review conducted by Elbridge Colby, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, which raised concerns about a decline in the number of shells, interceptors and various precision weapons in the U.S. military's stockpiles. One of the sources added that, as early as February, the Pentagon began sorting ammunition items into various urgent categories, according to him "against concerns that too many interceptors were used in Yemen" in the campaign against the Houthis. The U.S. also used many interceptors during the recent war with Iran, to assist Israel.
The decision by Washington to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine triggered warnings in Kyiv on Wednesday that the move would weaken its ability to defend against intensifying Russian air strikes and battlefield advances.
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Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky, Russian President Vladimir Putin
(Photos: Dmitry Serebryakov / Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP)
Ukraine said it had called in the acting U.S. envoy in Kyiv to stress the importance of continuing military aid from Washington, saying any cut-off would embolden Russia as diplomatic efforts to end the war falter.
The Pentagon's pause due to concerns that U.S. stockpiles are too low came in recent days and includes precision munitions and air defense interceptors that knock down Russian drones and missiles, two people familiar with the decision said.
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US President Donald Trump is pursuing an America First policcy
(Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP)
"The Ukrainian side emphasized that any delay or procrastination in supporting Ukraine's defense capabilities will only encourage the aggressor to continue the war and terror, rather than seek peace," Kyiv's foreign ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine's defense ministry said it had not been officially notified of any halt in U.S. shipments and was seeking clarity from its American counterparts.
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NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said he understood the U.S. needs to take care of its stockpiles. "But when it comes to Ukraine, in the short term, Ukraine cannot do without all the support it can get when it gets to ammunition and to air defense systems," Rutte said in an interview Wednesday with Fox News.
Dozens of people have been killed in recent weeks during air strikes on Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, that have involved hundreds of attack drones in addition to ballistic and cruise missiles.
Russian forces, which control about a fifth of Ukraine, have also made gains in a grinding summer campaign in the east.
Since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January, he has softened Washington's position toward Russia, seeking a diplomatic solution to the war and raising doubts about future U.S. military support for Kyiv's war effort.
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A Russian drone modeled after Iran's Shahid after being shot down in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine
(Photo: Ivan Samoilov AFP)
Last week, Trump said he was considering selling more Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine following a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Politico said the pause includes the critical Patriot air defense missiles which Ukraine has relied on to destroy fast-moving ballistic missiles.
Fedir Venislavskyi, a member of the Ukrainian parliament's national security and defense committee, called the decision to halt the shipments "very unpleasant for us".
"It's painful, and against the background of the terrorist attacks which Russia commits against Ukraine, it's a very unpleasant situation," he told reporters in Kyiv.
In an email, the Pentagon said it was providing Trump with options to continue military aid to Ukraine in line with the goal of ending Russia's war there.
"At the same time, the department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving U.S. forces' readiness for administration defense priorities," said Colby.
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Ukrainian military forces fire a ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun to intercept a Russian drone attack in the Kharkiv region
(Photo: Sofiia Gatilova/File Photo/Reuters)
All weapons aid was briefly paused in February with a second, longer pause in March. The Trump administration resumed sending the last of the aid approved under Biden but no new policy has been announced.
The Kremlin on Wednesday welcomed the news of a halt, saying the conflict would end sooner if fewer arms flowed to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, at noon, the Kremlin addressed the phone call between Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday night – the first conversation between the two leaders since September 2022 – and claimed that it was the French side that requested the conversation. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that it lasted more than two hours, and described it as “very significant.”
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Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke Tuesday night with French President Emmanuel Macron
(Photos: Sergei Bobylev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo/ AP/Ebrahim Norooz)
European leaders have largely boycotted Putin since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and therefore the conversation is seen as highly unusual. A German government spokesman said at noon that France had informed Berlin in advance of its intention to hold the conversation. He noted that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz does not intend, at least for the time being, to hold a similar conversation with his Russian counterpart. Trump has already broken the Western embargo on Putin and has spoken with him on the phone several times in recent months.
The Elysee Palace reported Tuesday night that Macron expressed to Putin his firm support for Ukraine's "sovereignty and territorial integrity," and called on him to agree as soon as possible to a ceasefire - during which negotiations on a permanent settlement would be held. Putin refuses such a proposal, and has so far agreed to conduct talks only under fire - talks that were held in two rounds in Istanbul, and did not yield any real progress. The Kremlin reported in its description of the conversation that Putin emphasized to Macron that any agreement must include a long-term solution and a response to the "roots of the conflict," a description the Kremlin uses to address its long-standing complaints about the gradual expansion of the NATO alliance eastward after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Putin, it was reported, also said that the conflict is "a direct result of the policies of Western countries."