By WILL WEISSERT and MATTHEW LEE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is halting some shipments of weapons to Ukraine amid considerations that its personal stockpiles have declined an excessive amount of, officers stated Tuesday.
The munitions have been beforehand promised to Ukraine to be used throughout its ongoing warfare with Russia beneath the Biden administration. However the pause displays a brand new set of priorities beneath President Donald Trump.
“This determination was made to place America’s pursuits first following a (Protection Division) overview of our nation’s navy assist and help to different international locations throughout the globe,” White Home spokesperson Anna Kelly stated in an announcement. “The energy of america Armed Forces stays unquestioned — simply ask Iran.”
That was a reference to Trump lately ordering U.S. missile strikes towards nuclear websites in Iran.
The Pentagon overview decided that shares have been too low on some objects beforehand pledged, so pending shipments of some objects received’t be despatched, based on a U.S. official who spoke on situation of anonymity to supply info that has not but been made public.
So far, the U.S. has supplied Ukraine greater than $66 billion value of weapons and navy help since Russia invaded in February 2022.
Over the course of the warfare, the U.S. has routinely pressed for allies to supply air protection techniques to Ukraine. However many are reluctant to surrender the high-tech techniques, notably international locations in Japanese Europe that additionally really feel threatened by Russia.
The halt of some weapons comes after Russia launched its greatest mixed aerial assault towards Ukraine over the weekend, Ukrainian officers stated, in an escalating bombing marketing campaign that has additional dashed hopes for a breakthrough in peace efforts championed by Trump.
The U.S. stoppage was first reported by Politico.
Trump met with Ukrainian chief Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO summit final week and had left open the opportunity of sending Kyiv extra U.S.-made Patriot air protection missile techniques, acknowledging they might assist the Ukrainian trigger.
“They do need to have the antimissile missiles, OK, as they name them, the Patriots,” Trump stated then. “And we’re going to see if we are able to make some out there. We’d like them, too. We’re supplying them to Israel, and so they’re very efficient, 100% efficient. Laborious to consider how efficient. They do need that greater than every other factor.”
These feedback mirror a change of excited about offering weapons to Ukraine throughout the administration in latest months.
In opening remarks at a Senate protection appropriations subcommittee listening to in June, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth stated he has moved rapidly to quash wasteful packages and redirect funding to Trump’s prime aims.
Hegseth stated a negotiated peace between Russia and Ukraine, which has been promoted for months by Trump, makes America look robust, despite the fact that Moscow is the aggressor within the battle. He additionally stated the price range contains arduous decisions and “displays the truth that Europe must step up extra for the protection of its personal continent. And President Trump deserves the credit score for that.”
The protection secretary stated throughout that testimony that some U.S. safety spending for Ukraine remains to be within the pipeline, however supplied no particulars. Hegseth additionally acknowledged that funding for Ukraine navy help — which has been strong for the previous two years — could be decreased.
“This administration takes a really completely different view of that battle,” Hegseth stated. “We consider {that a} negotiated peaceable settlement is in the very best curiosity of each events and our nation’s pursuits.”
Final month, Hegseth skipped a gathering of a global group to coordinate navy help to Ukraine that the U.S. created three years in the past. Hegseth’s predecessor, Lloyd Austin, fashioned the group after Russia attacked Ukraine, and Hegseth’s absence was the primary time the U.S. protection secretary wasn’t in attendance.
Below Austin’s management, the U.S. served as chair of the group, and he and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers attended month-to-month conferences, which have been each in individual and by video. Hegseth had beforehand stepped away from a management position of the Ukraine Protection Contact Group — turning that over to Germany and the UK — earlier than abandoning the gathering altogether.
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