President Trump temporarily suspended the delivery of all US aid to Ukraine on Monday, senior administrations and military officials said days after Trump and Ukrainian President Volodimia Zelensky had explosive conflicts at the White House.
This order affects more than $1 billion in weapons and ammunition in pipelines and orders. This led to a series of White House meetings between Trump and his senior national security aides on Monday, officials said they spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Officials said the directive was in effect until Trump determined that Ukraine had demonstrated a well-intentioned commitment to peace talks with Russia.
Trump's decision dramatically escalates violations between Washington and Kiev at a critical moment in the conflict. The most direct beneficiary of the move is Russian President Vladimir V. Putin. If the suspension is long, he can use that time to push in search of further territorial gains. And he may decide to hold back the negotiations at all. The long-term debate between Trump and Zelensky only considers strengthening his position when a battlefield or ceasefire talk takes place.
Trump's moves have few direct precedents in recent American history. The US has suspended the transfer of certain weapons systems to allies and partners, including President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s decision to halt delivery of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, but the decision to halt delivery to Israel, which it feared could be used against Gaza civilians, is essentially final. Zelensky forces him to agree to a ceasefire on the terms Trump directed.
With this suspension, the United States will directly oppose its major NATO allies. The majority of Europe, led by France, the UK and Germany, have recently pledged to step up aid to Ukraine, and are with Zelensky in a conflict with the Trump administration. But they simply don't have stockpiles to make up for the differences in the short term.
Trump's directive, previously reported by Bloomberg News, will halt delivery of equipment from the Pentagon stockpile through the Ukraine security assistance initiative. It was unclear what Zelensky would need to do to help Trump resume military aid.
Trump is increasingly in line with Putin and his story of war in Ukraine. He falsely claimed that it was Ukraine that started the war and called for the “dictator,” a democratically elected Zelensky.
He called Putin “smart” and “unning,” but refused to call him a dictator. And Trump has recently spoken about how he and Putin were combined by experiencing a shared ordeal in investigating Moscow's attempts to direct the election to Trump eight years ago. Officials from the American Intelligence Agency concluded that at the time Putin's Intelligence Agency had worked actively to sway the 2016 election courtesy of Trump.
Tensions between Trump and Zelensky exploded in the open on Friday. The two men were to sign a contract in the White House for Ukraine to repay US military aid over the past three years. Instead, Trump and Vice President JD Vance denounced Zelensky in front of the camera for not fully grateful for the support of the US.
The fate of the mineral trade remained unknown.
Trump on Monday called it a “big deal for us” without thinking that the mineral trade was dead, but said there was one thing Zelensky needs to look at to resume negotiations.
“I think he should be more grateful,” Trump told reporters.
Earlier that day, Trump seized on comments made by Zelensky over the weekend when he predicted that the peace deal with Russia was “still very far.”
“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not hold it down much longer!” Trump wrote on social media.
Several members of Trump's cabinet continued to join with his allies on Monday, suggesting that Zelensky should be responsible for the diplomatic collapse and show regret for the episode of the oval office.
Commerce Secretary Howard Luttonick said in an interview with CNN on Monday that Zelensky is “too far” for him to request “reparations,” as part of his “reparations,” and his recovery and security assurance of seized land from Russia.
“We love America. We thank America. We want you on our side. If you think we should have peace, then we should have peace,” Ludnick said.
“It's not a piecemaker,” Ludnik said of Zelensky. “It's a troublemaker.”
Rutnick suggested that Trump is still committed to brokering a deal between Ukraine and Russia, and “beat both sides and take them to the table.”
In the aftermath of the elliptical office meeting, the Trump administration soon began to begin debating or reducing military assistance, training, and perhaps Ukraine's military intelligence news support, a senior official said Friday. It was unclear late Monday whether Trump had directed officials to cut sharing of intelligence news, but one senior official said it was still flowing.
Trump convened a meeting of his national security team on Monday to discuss the administration's options.
The decision came at a critical moment in the Ukrainian war against Russian invasion, saying Trump has made clear in recent weeks that the era of Moscow segregation is over.
Ukraine can withstand US closures from weeks to months through weapons production and weapons delivery from Europe, US officials and analysts said Monday.
“The reality is that Ukraine is less dependent on the United States for its daily combat needs than it was a year ago,” says Michael Koffman, a senior Carnegie donation fellow who visited Ukraine several times since the war began three years ago.
However, if delivery stops become longer, Ukraine will lose its supply of several advanced weapons, including advanced air-prevention systems, surface-to-face ballistic missiles and long-range rocket guns. The US also provides parts, maintenance and technical support to Ukraine.
Zelensky said cutting off military aid would be a devastating blow, but the battle would not end.
“The US has now contributed to Ukraine's defensive capabilities and security,” he said in an interview last month. “Without this important 30%, we can imagine what will happen to us.”
US military aid halted the flow to Ukraine last year after Trump pressed his Republican allies in Congress to withhold aid.
This effect was first felt in the nightly air bombings that Russia directed at energy infrastructure around the country. With the empty launch tubes of American air defense systems, the air defense team wasted Russia's most sophisticated missiles on the country's thermal power plants, making them hardly able to protect them.
As aid delayed each month, the capital's metro stations were crowded with families seeking shelter as the protective blanket provided by the American Patriots' batteries began to fray.
The effect on the front took longer to feel. However, as supplies fell and American-made how shellfish became silent, Ukrainian commanders fighting in the region said they were forced to get rationed ammunition.
Adam Entos contributed to the report from Washington and the Mark Soundtrack from Kiev, Ukraine.
