President Donald Trump’s administration has reportedly paused financing for new weapons sales to Ukraine and is considering a freeze on arms shipments from American weapons stockpiles, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Trump administration effectively froze the arms financing for Ukraine when it implemented its wider pause on foreign aid spending, but its latest step toward possibly cutting off arms shipments to Ukrainian forces follows Trump’s Friday spat in the Oval Office with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which ended with the foreign leader being asked to leave the White House ahead of schedule, according to the WSJ, which cited anonymous U.S. officials.
The question of whether or not to restrict weapons shipments to Ukraine was reportedly the subject of a Monday meeting at the White House, according to the WSJ. The Washington Post reported Monday that officials involved in that meeting included Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff.
Trump Gets HEATED with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office
TRUMP: “You’re GAMBLING with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with WW3.” pic.twitter.com/RA5ChJyA5d
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 28, 2025
The U.S.-Ukraine relationship has been complicated by Friday’s fireworks at the Oval Office. Trump expected Zelenskyy to sign a key critical minerals development deal with the U.S. as a first step toward ending the bloody war between Russia and Ukraine, but the dust-up between the world leaders soured the afternoon and led to the cancellation of a luncheon and press conference that were meant to mark the occasion.
Technically, Rubio has signed a waiver that would exempt Ukraine from the Trump administration’s foreign aid pause, but the State Department official responsible for notifying the Pentagon in a letter has not yet done so, according to the WSJ. Until that letter is sent, Ukraine is effectively cut off from obtaining weapons from the U.S. via the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing program.
Ukraine is able to secure U.S. weapons through multiple avenues, but presidential drawdown authority — the power that allows the Pentagon to use its own weapons stockpiles to arm Ukraine — has been the most effective way to provide weapons to its forces, according to the WSJ. Even if Trump follows through and restricts arms transfers to Ukraine further, Ukrainian forces will likely have sufficient armaments to keep fighting Russia until sometime in the middle of 2025 thanks in part to a major weapons transfer carried out by the Biden administration.
The fate of the minerals deal at the heart of Friday’s conflict at the White House remains unclear, with Trump saying he will address the issue in his Tuesday night speech before Congress and Zelenskyy saying he wants to sign it despite the acrimonious Friday meeting.
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